Marcel Dzama, most definitely Canada’s hottest artistic export of the last decade, has just taken another unexpected turn in his already novel career. He’s gone bling.
Dzama’s illustrations, a madcap cartoon tableau of mirth and the macabre, have long endeared the artist to the Canadian art scene and, further south, to the indie hipster brigades of McSweeney’s founder Dave Eggers. His most recent outing, a series of charms that debuted at New York Fashion Week last fall, are his first foray into jewelry design.
Manhattan is now toasting Dzama’s talents. From his new home base on the Lower East Side, Dzama is fending off a surge of Stateside publicity not unlike that which he’s enjoyed back home, including a feature-length anointment in the pages of the New York Times Magazine as “a Canadian wunderkind.”
Designed for accessories company MZ Wallace, the 18-carat-gold charms are part of a limited edition set of five, each featuring either rubies, diamonds or other semi-precious stones. The charm figures are all fancifully twisted Dzama mainstays: an alligator, a bat, an octopus, and two bears hanging from nooses. Priced for the celebutante set, they retail for between $4,000 and $5,000 US. (Sure, they’re pricey, but is there a surer lure for the next Greek shipping magnate blowing through town than one of these dangling from your cell?) As a bonus, the charms have moving parts that are sure to be eye-catching.
For those living closer to reality, the charms are accompanied by a luxe t-shirt series as well. An elegant, long-sleeved, princess-necked grey marino wool jersey, the $160 US shirts feature the same Dzama characters hand-stitched in five different colours.
Others who are mad for Marcel are finding their fix on eBay, where free MZ Wallace catalogues that Dzama has art-directed, each displaying his illustrations and photography, are fetching prices under $10 US.
All of MZ Wallace’s products are available online at mzwallace.com, or at their SoHo and Tokyo locations.
