Artist Statement Black Field is an installation consisting of recreated elements and places from memory. The objects are not literal recreations, but idealized reflections of the real objects. Pallets, half embedded in the ground, a floating tent, and a pile of discarded clothes, reference the in between spaces that are often dumping grounds, impromptu camps, and spaces where people, un-tethered, congregate. These are threshold spaces that inhabit, simultaneously, the familiar and the unknown.
The space between the neighborhood and the forest is a space of permission. Because it is outside, in between, we give ourselves permission to act in ways that we never would. These actions are not inherently bad, but they are transgressive and transgressive actions are rarely socially acceptable or, in some cases, morally acceptable. It often takes courage to cross the threshold into these spaces, but we do this because there is a reward. We enter because most of the time we are in a world where culture has told us how to behave. Even as we interact with nature we are told what to wear, where to go, and how to get there. So we go to these other spaces, looking for something authentic or true.
The most sublime experience is one in which the relationship between us and the world becomes palpable. Where this thing that we perceive to be so unlike ourselves becomes a reflection, and the gaping mouth of the unknown is left open.
“Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.” --Rebecca Solnit, A Field Guide to Getting Lost
“One enters onto a threshold experience… and one views the world within. One visits the abode of the Gods, or perhaps of Beauty or Love or Form, which warns and possibly purges us. But we do not plan to stay there. We cannot experience, with all our attention, music or theater or philosophical principles or sex or even religion twenty-four hours a day. But we do return from the liminal experience enriched. We return to the everyday world, and the experience has refreshed us and can be a source of energy and meaning.” --Dick Higgins, Horizons
Bio Michael Endo earned an MFA in painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan, in 2009 and a BA from Portland State University, Oregon, in 2005. His work has been exhibited internationally and has been selected for group and solo exhibitions. In 2011 Endo was the recipient of a Regional Arts and Culture Council Grant and was a finalist for the Seattle Art Museum’s Betty Bowen Award. www.michaelendo.com
Price List Reclaim 2012 wood and glass 30 x 45 x 32 inches $2500
Adrift 2012 44 x 60 inches oil and acrylic on canvas $2100
Seeker 2012 oil on canvas 48 x 106 inches $3000
Isthmus 2012 oil and acrylic on canvas 44 x 60 inches $2100
Ghost Lodge 2012 wood and powdered marble 30 x 45 x 48 inches $2500
