Margi Scharff (USA)

Artists

• Wim Botha
• Bob Cnoops
• Hugo Crosthwaite (Mexico)
• James de Villiers
• Sasha Fabris
• Gordon Froud
• Rookeya Gardee
• David Hlynsky (Canada)
• Ashley Johnson
• Nkosinathi Khanyile
• Ania Krajewski
• Michael Matthews
• Nhlanhla Mbatha
• Rankadi Mosako
• Margi Scharff (USA)

• Diane Victor

DASART shows

An Introduction to Dasart

Transmigrations - the show

Transmigrations Synopsis

Fokofo

Dasart Archives

More about Margi..

Title : "Raw Material: from the road in Asia... "

"Raw Material" is the umbrella title for a long term project that I began as an investigation to find materials that were abundant and freely available to me as an artist living in our contemporary world. I started this work in Mexico in 1994 by collecting found objects from the road near my house. For several years I worked on a series of assemblage sculptures titled "From the Road in Mexico". Eventually I was inspired (by the simple graphic shapes of the found objects) to begin a series of drawings with the same theme.

For the drawings I collected commonly discarded things-- bottle caps, poptops, nails... ordinary objects that could likely be found on a road anywhere in the world that a road exists. While collecting these things from the road I viewed the found objects as somehow reflective of contemporary culture-- symbolic of our time in history-- a time of mass production, a time of 'disposable' or 'throw away' products, a time of repetition, multiples, copies, a time of globalization. However, once I entered the process of drawing, the identities of the objects became insignificant. The fluidity of the medium allowed me to keep the shapes in a recognizable form or move in the direction of more abstract territory where object identity becomes irrelevant.

These thoughts on collecting materials from the road to make art prompted me to embark on a "working journey". I wanted to travel the world with the precise intention of collecting ordinary things from the road and make art along the way. I knew that wherever I went my materials for making art would be there on the road. I only had to recognize them... The first journey was through Mexico, then China, Laos, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, India, and Nepal. In these places I gathered materials, this time mostly commonly discarded paper scraps-- cigarette packages, match boxes, candy wrappers... things that were light weight and would travel well.

I made drawings and began the "Raw Material: from the road in Asia..." collage series. I also kept a written journal of my travel experiences which inspired a series of short stories and poems. I took portrait photographs of people I met along the way-- on the bus , at the train station, on a trail in the forest. These were ordinary- everyday people with whom I crossed paths, people I met by chance during my wanderings. These people made the journey worthwhile (and bearable) by offering a smile as we shared a bench, or sharing food on the bus, or extending friendship to me, a stranger, in their part of the world.

This journey is about all of these things: the making of art with ordinary materials, the stories and poems of travel, and the portrait photographs of people I met on route-- all are essential components of a larger whole. My hopes are to eventually combine these elements in the form of a book series. I left my home to make this 'artist's pilgrimage' and though I dearly miss the companionship of my friends, I do not yet miss having a home. I continue to travel and when I get tired I think fondly of some lines I remember from an anonymous haiku poet. "No road leads the way. The path follows behind. The journey itself is home."

Margi Scharff