Marcie Begleiter is a California-based artist whose large photographic installations depict stressed bio-systems. “Chimera of the Post-Anthropocene”, her current series, explores objects that are assembled from nature but not of it. The sculptures and photographic tableaus are based on specific biomes, envisioning dramatic and unpredictable futures of flora and fungi. The images are photographed in environments inspired by natural history museum dioramas.
She has received grants from the NEA, LACES, the Foundation for Art Resources and Germany's Hamburger Kunsthalle. In 2024 she curated “Echoes of Voynich: Coded Systems in Contemporary Art” at Wönzimer Gallery, LA, and was part of Getty’s Pacific Standard Time “Art & Science Collide” https://www.wonzimer.com/echoes-of-voynich . Her 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.
Recent art residencies include the Banff Center in the Banff National Forest and the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in Cascade Head, Oregon.
The Whitney Museum premiered “Eva Hesse”, which I 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.
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
2025 Quantum Intimacies Millennium Film Workshop, curated by Michéle St. Michel, Brooklyn (June)
2025 Negotiated Intelligence 7th Wrong Biennale, curated by Chun Wang (November)
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 and Residencies
2025 Studio Itoya, Takeo, Japan (Upcoming)
2025 Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Preserve House Residency
2025 Center for Cultural Innovation Professional Development Grant
2024 Banff Center for the Arts, Leighton Program Residency
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
Publications as Author
“Why a Documentary on Eva Hesse was Long Overdue”, Julia Felsenthal, Vogue, May 2016
“Not Just for the Art World” Interview with International Documentary Association,
“Eva Hesse: One More Than One” Essay in Catalog at Hamberger Kunsthalle, Germany
“From Word to Image”, Published 2001, second edition 2010. Available in 5 languages
Academic Positions
Founding Director of Creative Action, Otis College of Art, Los Angeles, CA, 2005- 2008
Associate Professor, Graduate Department of Film, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA, 2009-2014
Associate Professor, Digital Media, Otis College of Art, Los Angeles, CA, 1998-2005
Founding Faculty, Film, International Filmschule, Cologne, Germany, 1999-2015
Instructor, Public Programs, American Film Institute, Los Angeles, CA, 1993-2021
Guest Lecturer at UCLA, American Film Institute, The New School, University of Southern California, UC San Diego, The Paris Film Institute, British Film Institute
Bibliography
Lane Barden, “Echoes of Voynich: Coded Systems in Contemporary Art,” Artillery, Nov/Dec 2024
New Visionary Magazine, Feature with essay, Feb, 2024
Ann Landi, Vasari21, “What is Drawing, Part 9”, May 16, 2021
A.O. Scott, “Eva Hesse’ a Moving Portrait of an Artist’s Brief Life”, NYT, 2016
Mira Schor, "Eva Hesse Documentary", A Year of Positive Thinking, 2016
Joe Morgenstern, “The Persistence of the Ephemeral”, Wall Street Journal, , 2016
Carolina Miranda, “Groundbreaking Sculptor Eva Hesse Finally Gets the Documentary She Deserves”, Los Angeles Times, 2016
Leah Garcheck, “Eva Hesse’s Life and More”, SF Gate, 2016
Amy Taubin, “Elastic Heart”, Art Forum, May, 2016
Benjamin Sutton, “A Psychological Portrait", Hyperallergic, May, 2026
Education
MFA Painting Art Center College of Design, Pasadena 1991
BA Hamilton/Kirkland Colleges. 1976