MOSAIC OF MEMORY. The work of Megumi Endo, including "Recipe for successful revenge" (above), is on display at the Guardino Gallery in northeast Portland through March 22. (Photo courtesy of Guardino Gallery)

From The Asian Reporter, V18, #11 (March 11, 2008), page 15.

Memories in color, anchored in numbers
Oil paintings by Megumi Endo

By Ronault L.S. Catalani

Megumi Endo — born to her Thai mother and Japanese father in Bangkok, university educated in O’ahu, now working out of San Francisco and Portland — says her artistic expression is drawn from many places. And she is entitled to say so.

Her often playful, sometimes brooding, always bright work reflects "memories of places I have been and sometimes never been, but when I do get there, it’s a total déjà vu." To see what she means you need not travel nearly as far as she’s travelled. Newly hip northeast Alberta on almost any afternoon will also get you there.

For Ms. Endo, like for many of us, it’s not so much words as colors that return us to what we’ve captured from our past, restoring a feeling of how we were when those tints and tones made their emotional impression on us. But unlike most, Ms. Endo’s memories are also tethered to numbers. Particular numbers yank back specific recollections.

"For example," she says, "I was playing pool with some friends two nights ago. I remember that experience as somewhere between five and 87." Colors she uses, "to complete my most precious memories."

And so, the series of mixed media/oil paintings presented by Guardino Gallery alone and in combination work their way toward a kind of mosaic of memory. What’s recalled, for instance in "Recipe for successful revenge" and in "Mystery of 710," is the feel of bright tropical colors, maybe on walls of worn stucco, certainly faded by the intense light of day. Kanji characters set out poster style add to an afternoon sidewalk sense.

And then there are a playful third grader’s chalk outlines of askew houses, soaring airplanes, and a befuddled teddy bear. Fun, of course. But dogged by a bluesy mood and tagged by those numbers too.

"I hope my nostalgia can offer you something, and you see something you like," says Megumi Endo about her effort. She does offer something. Her colors are bright and brave, her childlike musings and her mysterious numbers anchoring a more unsettled, maybe even troubled world, sets us viewers on edge. Uncertain, despite the bold statement of her strong color schemes. And this may not be altogether pleasant — but it is true, I suppose, for everyone’s memories were we to set them out on canvas and take a couple of steps back. For perspective, for truth.

Ms. Endo has gone back to her studio, but her work will hang at Guardino Gallery, located at 2939 N.E. Alberta Street in Portland, until March 22. Her mixed media/oils can also be viewed at <www.gz-la.com>. The Guardino Gallery is always available on the web at <www.guardinogallery.com>, or call (503) 281-9048 for hours.