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Marcel Dzama — I'll make the moon come up three hours late.
Marcel Dzama

I'll make the moon come up three hours late.

2019

Marcel Dzama's 2019 work "I'll make the moon come up three hours late." unfolds across a generous sheet of paper as a densely choreographed tableau rendered in gouache, watercolour, ink, and graphite. The title's declarative strangeness sets the tone perfectly, signalling a world where natural order bends to theatrical will, and Dzama delivers precisely that atmosphere through his signature cast of masked figures, animal hybrids, and performers caught mid-gesture in a flattened, stage-like space. The palette moves between the earthy and the lurid, with passages of warm ochre and deep red anchoring a composition that never fully resolves into legibility, inviting sustained looking rather than easy narrative interpretation. Dzama has long occupied a singular position in contemporary art, drawing freely from Dada, folk illustration, silent cinema, and chess iconography to construct a visual language that is immediately recognizable yet perpetually unsettling. This work sits comfortably within his mature practice, demonstrating the confident draftsmanship and tonal control that distinguish his larger compositions from his smaller studies. The scale, nearly a metre tall and over a metre wide, allows the scene to accumulate density without crowding, each figure claiming its own psychological weight within the whole. Presented framed and signed by the artist, this is a substantial, exhibition-ready piece offered through Sies + Höke. Works of this scale and complexity from Dzama's recent output represent strong acquisitions for collectors drawn to artists whose imaginative worlds hold their coherence across decades of sustained production.

Medium
Gouache, watercolour, ink and graphite on paper
Overall
Framed
Signed
Yes
Location
Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf

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About this work

Marcel Dzama, I'll make the moon come up three hours late., 2019

Marcel Dzama's 2019 work "I'll make the moon come up three hours late." unfolds across a generous sheet of paper as a densely choreographed tableau rendered in gouache, watercolour, ink, and graphite. The title's declarative strangeness sets the tone perfectly, signalling a world where natural order bends to theatrical will, and Dzama delivers precisely that atmosphere through his signature cast of masked figures, animal hybrids, and performers caught mid-gesture in a flattened, stage-like space. The palette moves between the earthy and the lurid, with passages of warm ochre and deep red anchoring a composition that never fully resolves into legibility, inviting sustained looking rather than easy narrative interpretation. Dzama has long occupied a singular position in contemporary art, drawing freely from Dada, folk illustration, silent cinema, and chess iconography to construct a visual language that is immediately recognizable yet perpetually unsettling. This work sits comfortably within his mature practice, demonstrating the confident draftsmanship and tonal control that distinguish his larger compositions from his smaller studies. The scale, nearly a metre tall and over a metre wide, allows the scene to accumulate density without crowding, each figure claiming its own psychological weight within the whole. Presented framed and signed by the artist, this is a substantial, exhibition-ready piece offered through Sies + Höke. Works of this scale and complexity from Dzama's recent output represent strong acquisitions for collectors drawn to artists whose imaginative worlds hold their coherence across decades of sustained production.

Medium
Gouache, watercolour, ink and graphite on paper
Dimensions
overall: 97.6 x 126.8 cm • framed: 103.6 x 132.7 cm
Year
2019
Signed
Hand-signed by the artist
Seen at
Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf

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Collected by

Gavin Kennedy