‘Ghosts of Canoe Lake’ A Solo Exhibition by Marcel Dzama | Opening Reception

Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is thrilled to announce Ghosts of Canoe Lake, an exhibition of new work by Marcel Dzama. To celebrate the opening of this exhibition please join us for an opening reception on Friday, November 22, 2024, from 8 – 10PM.

Marcel Dzama is one of Canada’s most intriguing expatriates, an artist who works in myriad media to express his fantastical and sometimes unsettling vision. Originally from Winnipeg, where he entered the art world as a founder of the famous Royal Art Lodge (once dubbed the new Group of Seven by a zealous journalist), Dzama moved to New York in 2004, continuing a career that has become increasingly international in scope.

This exhibition marks Dzama’s return to the Canadian museum scene after more than a decade with a new body of work inspired by the occasion. Here the artist revisits themes of landscape drawn from Canadian art history and his own memories of a childhood spent in the wilds of Manitoba and northern Saskatchewan—all while confronting a natural world threatened by climate change. Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven come in for special attention, as Dzama plays with the legacies of the landscape painters who came before him.

This exhibition was organized and circulated by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in partnership with Contemporary Calgary.

Image credits: Marcel Dzama (b. 1974), ;’Waiting on Tom’s ghost,’ 2023, pearlescent acrylic, ink, watercolour, and graphite on paper, 36.8 x 36.2 cm, courtesy the artist and David Zwirner. © Marcel Dzama.