Pepe Mar: Dream House

Pepe Mar: Dream House invites visitors to a phantasmagorical world where the artist’s assemblage and collage works are displayed in conversation with objects from the Currier Museum of Art’s permanent collection. This exhibition opens October 1, 2026.

Category: Contemporary, collage, assemblage

Pepe Mar, My First 25,000 Years on Earth, 2024, Courtesy of the artist and David Castillo

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About the show: Continuing Mar’s ongoing engagement with museum collections, Dream House is the first New England presentation of the Mexico-born, Miami-based artist whose exuberant works synthesize thrift store aesthetics, queer culture, science fiction, and fashion.

Dates on view:

This exhibition opens October 1, 2026 and is on view through February 21, 2027.

The materials:

The consumption and material over production of 21^st century life offers wellspring of meaning and material for Mar, whose work incorporates thousands of collaged images and objects such as ceramic vessels, second-hand clothing, and cornucopia baskets. Acquired through a habitual scouring of thrift stores, the artist transforms these objects into depictions of his enigmatic alter-ego, Paprika.

Pepe Mar, Green Spiral, 2025, Collection of Stefanie Kahn, Raleigh, NC

The environment:

Dream House will transform the museum’s galleries into a psychedelic environment where identity and memory continually fracture and merge. Juxtaposing Currier collection pieces, including a gilded Ormolu clock, a Piranesi table, and iridescent Tiffany glass, with Mar’s work, the show simultaneously lambasts and pays homage to traditional American decorative arts displays. Throughout the galleries, the artist’s plexiglass-encased collage and assemblage works function as paintings within a futuristic “period room” environment. Dream House will offer visitors a seductive environment replete with brightly colored carpeting, custom wallpaper, and furniture upholstered in fabric designed by Mar.

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