Marcel Dzama's Une Danse des Bouffons

Marcel Dzama’s Une Danse des Bouffons was perhaps the most immediately impactful gallery exhibition our Eye and the Idea class visited during our time in Chelsea. Rather than uniting his work through medium or technique, Dzama’s mixed media work in this show used a focus on color to create demanding rooms, one warm and one cool. The configuration of the red and blue galleries, which mirrored each other for the most part, but with minor changes, very effective carried across the dichotomy. More than the immediate impact that such heavy use of one color has, the works seemed more dynamic because they were arranged in environments.

A bit of the environment created by Dzama's use of color

Among all the galleries we visited, this seemed like one of the more complete attempts to use space in a meaningful way. Fredrik Værslev’s a Shore Thing series, mirrored the simple gallery space it was placed in with bleeding lines of paint and canvases as rough as the floor. Dzama’s work did not have his direct relationship with the architecture, but instead created cohesive rooms. According to the Press Release on Dzama’s work, the red and blue theme is inspired by the Nigerian God Edshu, “recognizable by his hat that was colored red on one side and blue on the other”(Press Release Marcel Dzama at David Zwirner Gallery).  The spaces, and in particular the red space, appeared as full rooms, a sense amplified by Dzama’s tendency to create collages and textured 3 dimensional work. In filling the spaces with texture and narratives, but limiting the colors used, Dzama created what I viewed as a very satisfying set of experiences. The use of color unites Dzama’s concepts with the execution, and mitigates the feeling of chaos that can arise in mixed media work without a uniting characteristic. The monochromatic nature of the rooms also heightens the surreal feeling of each space, adding a sense of order that can be satisfying but also disquieting in conjunction with so many disparate elements.

Fredrik Værslev's A Shore Thing mirrors the space it is placed in, or vice versa

Unfortunately, the center room between the two almost identical set ups was never clearly explained, and felt as if it belonged to a different concept or show. The slightly obsolete televisions stacked on top of one another, all playing videos of some alien choreography performed by people in polka-dotted spandex, felt very much like a parody of “art.” This parody could have been self- aware, but its unity with the video work in the other rooms gives the impression that Dzama’s use of these stacked televisions was meant without irony. There is no discernible spin on what at this point reads to me as a trope that has appeared in everything from television to music videos. On the other hand, this relatively neutral room did serve as an effective transition between the red and blue rooms, and mirrored the focus on chess through both the black and white costumes and the square arrangement of the televisions.

The stacked televisions serve as a transition, but also a cliche.

            The longer video work on display in this gallery did effectively mimic an early silent film style, and helped create different atmospheres for the red and blue rooms thanks to the difference in lead stress between the two rooms. This type of repetition with slight variation was visible all over Dzama’s rooms, and helped convey to me the surreal nature of his pieces, by subverting expectations. I also enjoyed seeing the costumes in each room. This detail provided some insight into the making of the work. The fact that these large, grotesque costumes stood as sentries behind each door, while clearly intended to startle the viewer, also served the deeper purpose of creating an uneasiness that carried over into the videos.

            Primarily, I found Dzama’s work engaging. Where other work we saw appealed to me more aesthetically, Dzama’s work demanded participation and reactions from the viewer.  His video narrative, large cast of characters on the walls and in dioramas, and interaction with artists of the past created an environment that required attention in a more complete way.

-Izzy Kapur