Marcie Begleiter is a California-based artist whose large photographic installations depict stressed bio-systems. “Chimera: The Future of Nature”, her current series, explores objects that are assembled from nature but not of it. The photographic tableaus are based on specific biomes, envisioning dramatic and unpredictable futures of flora and fungi. These characters are photographed on a stage sets inspired by natural history museum dioramas.A hopeful exploration of new forms amdst a dire ecological future.
Grants from the NEA, LACES, the Foundation for Art Resources and Germany's Hamburger Kunsthalle have funded projects. Curation in 2024 includes “Echoes of Voynich: Coded Systems in Contemporary Art” at Wönzimer Gallery, LA, part of Getty’s Pacific Standard Time “Art & Science Collide”. Work has been featured at the CICA Museum in Seoul, Korea, the Center for Contemporary Art in Orange County, The Praxis Center for Photography in Minneapolis, UC Santa Barbara, Brooklyn's WoArt Gallery, the Miossi Gallery and Vasari21.
The Whitney Museum premiered “Eva Hesse”, which she directed and produced. The feature documentary is a portrait of the 1960s artist's life and work. It was broadcast on PBS’ American Masters in 2018. Founding Director of the Integrated Learning Program at Otis College of Art, her academic credits also include Associate Professor at Art Center College of Design and faculty of the International Filmschule in Köln, Germany.
The exhibit catalog for “Echoes of Voynich: Coded Systems in Contemporary Art” is available at the Wönzimer gallery https://www.wonzimer.com/echoes-of-voynich
Artist Statement
“Chimera of the Post-Anthropocene” my current series, explores objects that are assembled from nature but not of it. The photographic tableaus are based on specific biomes, envisioning dramatic and unpredictable futures of flora and fungi. These characters are lit and photographed on a stage inspired by natural history museum dioramas. Each image is a single, in-camera exposure.
My intention is to address the viewer’s sense of wonder and offer an experience of the macro and micro worlds that are often unseen or forgotten. These spaces are central to our understanding the natural world, and its ability to remake itself in times of great stress. The images contain the hope of a future of nature that embraces both the sadness of what is passing and a celebration of what will come.
Chapters of this ecosystem story have been created in the fire scorched High Sierras of Yosemite, the sub-Alpine forests of Banff, Estero Bay in Central California and the Bay of Banderas, in coastal Mexico. Upcoming residency at the Sitka Center for Arty and Ecology will focus on Cascade Head, the estuary formed by the confluence of the Salmon River in Oregon and the Pacific.
CV
Based in Los Angeles and Los Osos, CA
Selected Group Exhibitions and Installations
2024. Eco-Anxiety LA Center for Photography - Project Exhibition (Nov 14 ‘24-May 11 ‘25)
2024 Echoes of Voynich Wonzimer Gallery, Los Angeles (opening Sept 13)
2023 Nature: 2023 CICA Museum, Seoul
2022 What Will Remain (solo) Cambria Center for the Arts
2022 Macro>Larger Than Life Praxis Photo Arts Center, Minneapolis
2022 Surrealism NOW Orange County Center for the Arts, Santa Ana
2021 Patterns in Nature WoArt, Brooklyn, NY
2021 Regeneration Platform Gallery, UCSB, Santa Barbara
2021 Octopus Inspiration WoArt, Brooklyn, NY
2021 Drawing Roundup, Nine Vasari21, Taos New Mexico
2020 Love in the Time of Covid Harold J. Miossi Gallery, San Luis Obispo
2015 Eva Hesse (film) Whitney Museum of American Art, NY
2014 Storyboards and Photos Eykyn Maclean, NY
2006 Acquired Ancestors Venice ArtWalk, Los Angeles
2004 Otis College Selects Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica
1999 Projected Territories Downtown Art Alliance, Los Angeles
1998 Glow Foundation for Art Resources, Los Angeles
1997 Pasadena Pass-Through Pasadena Art Alliance, Pasadena
1996 Five Frame Film 18th St. Arts Complex, Santa Monica
1992 Sawtelle Domestic Setting, Los Angeles
1991 Feminist Majority Margot Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles
Awards and Grants (selected)
2015 Filmstiftung NrW Production Grant, Dusseldorf, Germany
2014 The Frances & Benjamin Benenson Foundation Development Grant
2014 The Audrey & Sydney Irmas Charitable Foundation Grant
2014 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation Project Grant
2012 The Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, Travel Grant
2010 Durfee Foundation Project Grant, Los Angeles
2006 Art Center College Faculty Award
2003 Otis College of Art Faculty Award
1996 Foundation for Art Resources Project Grant, Los Angeles
1993 National Endowment for the Arts/LACES Project Grant:
The Rise of Hip-Hop Civilization and its Discontents, Los Angeles
Residencies
Sitka Center for Art and Ecology (upcoming, 2025)
Banff Center for the Arts, Banff Canada 2024
Cummington Community of the Arts; Cummington, MA
Academic Positions
Art Center College, Pasadena. Associate Professor of Film 1993-2007, 2010-2014
Otis College of Art, Los Angeles. Associate Professor and Program Director. 1992-2008
Education
MFA Painting Art Center College of Design, Pasadena 1991
Rhode Island School of Design
BA Hamilton/Kirkland Colleges