A.B.F.M. Magazine® Art Studio Prize Recipient Marli Davis
A.B.F.M. Magazine® is very honored to present the winner of the Art Studio prize Marli Davis.
BIO:
Marli Davis is a multicultural and interdisciplinary artist based in Toronto. Her practice borrows scientific ideologies to conduct art-making in strategical phases reminiscent of laboratory experimentation. Archives, heirlooms, relics, artifacts and memorabilia, excavated from her ancestorial home/current workspace, are investigated through vast material transformations. These domestic objects connect to Marli’s Japanese heritage and initiate intrigue towards understanding her cultural fragmentation. Preservative liquid, plaster, wax, rice-paper, paint, borax crystals, gelatin, latex, silicone, fabric, hardware, resin, plastic, glass, agar, organic-matter and many others contribute to this analytical pursuit. Each tool establishes a foundational basis to dissect, preserve, clone, incubate, reanimate and inform her relationship with inherited cultural-objects. The artist begins to embody the examiner’s role; addressing and systematizing gaps within her lineage throughout installation and publication. Marli often utilizes the synthesis of varying theoretical and artistic philosophies when exploring introspective notions revolving around the body.
In 2021, Marli received a BFA from the Ontario College of Art and Design University and previously in 2019, studied abroad in Florence Italy. Possessing a passion for education and research, she believes her journey as a learner is ongoing and quintessential in furthering development as an artist.
STATEMENT:
My work is influenced by the exploratory coalescence of Art, Science and Spirituality. Studio production abstracts scientific and diagnostic strategies when conducting introspective experimentation, centralized around my deceased grandmother’s ancestorial home. This space; where I live/work activates cultural analysis in relation to the ‘specimen’. Housing objects of investigation metaphysically linked to my Japanese heritage. Enigmas encountered during domestic excavations of displaced memorabilia, initiate intrigue towards former dwelling ghostly-bodies and their residual earthly possessions. Cultural objects are converted into cultural-specimens via tactile methods of dissection, modification, reanimation and preservation. Each chronological phase assimilates fragmented lineage, pertaining to the-self/examiner. Genealogical gaps unveiled among sequestered archives, constitutes a focus on tangibility, transience and liminal mortality.
Systematic installation subsequently reinstates specimen-hybrids within a network of refurbished Japanese display cases/cabinets. Transformed into incubation machines, to revive the objects originally stored within them. Each specimen/container is then taxonomically collected and labelled, corresponding to a counterpart analogue textbook. Operating as a laboratory record by transcribing evolutionary-variants and observational-data. Its didactic formatting re-establishes works through biostatistical documentation, illustrating investigative intent for each preserved subject. Museology informs the cultural extraction and rehabilitation of relics, utilizing assemblage to cease erasure and reclaim displaced artifacts. This circulatory exhibition transmutes life and death; conjuring ethereal perceptivity to restore ethnological DNA. Implications of relinquished language oppose western classification and constructs a historical discourse within my present-day work. The rectification of silenced-bodies relies on each works’ bio-memetic materiality; to unify the premise of restoration across multi-dimensional platforms. Synthetic, found, organic and spectral objects evoke vital symbolism within my habitual practice. I navigate transgenerational epigenetics and hauntological ontology by anthropomorphizing the realm of loss.
MATERIALS:
Silicone, Tubes, Wire, String, Inherited cultural objects (altered), Archival photos/Scripture, Medical/Government docs, Latex, Plastic, Metal, Mylar, Wood, Specimen Jars/Glassware, Curtains, Traditional Japanese display cases (altered), Plaster, Acrylic/Oil paint & medium, Tags/Text, Encaustic wax, Medical objects, Dissection equipment, Resin, Hardware/Tools, Bones/Skulls, Insects, Nylon, Stuffing, Metal grates, Petri dishes, Agar, Gelatin, Borax crystals, Traditional dishware, Preservative liquid, Fabric, The departed’s clothing, Cabinets (filing/china), Hair/Skin/Nails, Fabrics, Rice, Fungi, Rice paper, Canvas, Didactic labels, Sewing thread, Wall phones, Clay, Relics/Heirlooms (altered), etc.
Contact and support Marli Davis through the link below.
marli-davis.format.com
You can find Marli Davis's Full project Ebook Warm Bodies, Ghostly Specimens, Stoic Machines. Click the link below.
linktr.ee/Marli_Davis
IG: www.instagram.com/marli.davis.art
@marli.davis.art