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. 

Contact

mdbegleiter@gmail.com


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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

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