Episode #266: From their mutual gallery in New York City, Marcel Dzama and Raymond Pettibon collaborate on a new series of drawings. "I enjoy working alone for about a month and then after that I really need to be around other artists," explains Dzama, "I always really enjoy collaboration." The two artists work side-by-side on large-scale drawings of cathedrals, horses, and waves, allowing their work to unfold organically.

For Dzama, his collaboration with Pettibon is especially significant. "He was the first contemporary artist I had heard of," explains Dzama, "I really feel that he opened the door for the acceptance drawing as a main art form, not as just the sketch before the painting."

Since meeting through an event at their gallery, Pettibon and Dzama now frequently collaborate, allowing their own styles and signature imagery to influence one another. "I've definitely found that I have this looseness to my work when I collaborate," says Dzama. "It gives it more of an energy. The work is alive."

Marcel Dzama was born in 1974 in Winnipeg, Canada. Fantastical and absurd, Dzama's drawings feature a cast of humans, animals, and hybrid creatures rendered in pencil, ink, watercolor, and, at times, root-beer syrup. Dzama draws upon a mix of influences—from childhood monsters, like the Wolfman and Dracula, to the work of artists like Marcel Duchamp, Francisco Goya, William Blake, and Francis Picabia—to create unique worlds that are at once surreal and familiar, sweet and violent, and chaotic and elegant.

Learn more about the artist at:
https://art21.org/artist/marcel-dzama/

CREDITS | Producer: Ian Forster. Interview: Ian Forster. Editor: Rosie Walunas. Camera: John Marton. Colorist: Jonah Greenstein. Artwork courtesy: Marcel Dzama, Raymond Pettibon, and David Zwirner. Special thanks: Jonathan Munar.

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