Deep Night Season 12: Marcel Dzama

Dale dons his caped turtleneck and pulls his fangs out the jar for a very seasonally-appropriate, vampire-inspired conversation with acclaimed visual artist, Marcel Dzama. The two discuss Marcel’s lifelong fascination with the character of Count Dracula, tracing its beginnings to his youth in Winnipeg spent assembling puzzles of Bela Lugosi and watching classic films on VHS tapes from the supermarket. Known for his beautifully rendered drawings featuring legions of polka dot-wearing revolutionaries, men wearing bear costumes, and swarms of helpful bats, Marcel tells Dale about a range of influences that have informed his work. Dale gets pretty excited to find out about Marcel’s ventriloquist grandfather who performed as “Metro” for rural Canadian farm audiences, and the significant role that comedies like SCTV and Strangers with Candy have played in expanding his artistic universe of ideas. Dale also shares some thoughts on church basement chicken and offers some ways to celebrate the harvest, Brooklyn style.

A few corrections and notes for this episode: Dale’s cursory knowledge of Dracula films had him searching through some dense cobwebs in the coffin of his mind. The Deep Night Research Team fact checked him post-show and clarified that Once Bitten, is a Jim Carrey vampire comedy while Love at First Bite stars a tanned George Hamilton as a disco-loving Dracula wooing a very game, Susan Saint James.

Photo in original post via Artsy.