Portland, OR - Bullseye Projects presents a solo exhibition by Emily Endo, exploring the body, fluidity, purification, and beauty. Immaterial will be on view March 16 - June 1, 2019. Join the artist for the opening reception, Saturday, March 16, 1:30 - 3:30 PM
Immaterial, Emily Endo's second solo exhibition at Bullseye Projects, continues the artist's interest in the intersection between science and mysticism. This intersection manifests in the myriad myths and stories that have historically been used to explain natural phenomena. In her previous work, Endo turned her attention to outward change, the transformation of the environment in particular. For Immaterial, Endo looks inward, incorporating the female form and elements of body modification, referencing both the inevitable change of the self through time and yearning for metamorphosis and transcendence.
Water Baby (Fountain), consists of a hollow, transparent, cast glass female bust. Vibrant blue liquid dribbles out of the mouth of the figure, pooling in the base from which the form emerges. The colored, lightly scented liquid transmits an ethereal glow through the glass and onto the shining platinum blonde hair that frames the face and cascades down the back of the pedestal. "In my recent work," says Endo, "the fragmented body, beautification, and corporeal self-expression intersect with fantasy and idealized representations of the female body, creating references to ancient and modern rituals of purification as a means to simultaneously celebrate the body and transcend its materiality."
Immaterial is an extension of Endo's recent exhibition Water Baby; both exhibitions were funded in part by the Regional Arts & Culture Council.
Emily Endo (née Nachison) was born in San Diego, California, in 1984. She received a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2006 and an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2010. She has been included in exhibitions across the country, including the Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland, Oregon; Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, Portland, Oregon; New Mexico State University Art Gallery, Las Cruces; and University of Nevada Sheppard Contemporary, Reno. In 2018, she was awarded a Project Grant from Portland's Regional Arts & Culture Council. Endo was an artist-in-residence at Wassaic Artist Residency, New York, and The Marlin and Regina Miller Gallery at Kutztown University, Pennsylvania, in 2016. She has lectured at the American Craft Council, Portland Art Museum, Cranbrook Academy of Art, and School for American Crafts, Rochester Institute of Technology. Her work has been featured in American Craft Magazine, Interior Design, art ltd., Frontrunner Magazine, and Bad at Sports. From 2013 to 2018, Endo served as the Fibers Department Chair at the Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland. She is currently the co-director of Dust to Dust and the High Desert Observatory. Endo lives and works in Portland, Oregon, and Joshua Tree, California.
