Marcel Dzama's solo show Ghosts of Canoe Lake is inspired by Tom Thomson's mysterious death

Q17:28Marcel Dzama: The fire that destroyed his early work, Group of Seven, and being drawn to nature in his new show

If the Canadian visual artist Marcel Dzama had a book about his life in art, there'd be quite a few chapters.

There'd be a chapter about his time growing up in Winnipeg, making his way through the winters, drawing bears, bats, trees, flapper girls and G.I. Joes in a snowy landscape. There'd be one focused on his life in the 1990s and early 2000s, when he had a wild art collective called the Royal Art Lodge, which included his uncle and sister. And you'd see a chapter about his album covers, videos and short films, with artists like Beck, the Weakerthans, Kim Gordon and Amy Sedaris.

You'd also read about Dzama's paintings, drawings, installations, films and performances, and how he thinks about Canadian art in general — particularly the work of the early 20th-century painter Tom Thomson, who mysteriously disappeared into Algonquin Park's Canoe Lake in 1917. Dzama's new solo exhibition, Ghosts of Canoe Lake, which is on now at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ont., celebrates his fascination with Thomson and the Group of Seven.

In an interview with Q's Tom Power, Dzama discusses his latest body of work, what it was like finding fame and how his life changed when Jim Carrey bought a few of his drawings. See some images from Dzama's new solo show below.

You can see Ghosts of Canoe Lake at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection until June 9.

Ghost of Canoe Lake

Grandmother passing the ecstatic forest in a swarm of star light

We can not abandon such beauty

Waiting on Tom's ghost

The Sisters of Nature

To Live on the Moon (for Lorca)

The full interview with Marcel Dzama is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Marcel Dzama produced by Lise Hosein.