The graphic work of Endi Poskovic explores the intersection of the image and the written word and reinforces the act of reading the two in a single context as a source of unlimited interpretive possibilities. The amalgam of hybridized narratives and remembered landscapes in Poskovic's images suggests dichotomies that exist in life, as in, for example, the adventure of migration and its risks, or the magnificence of nature and its dangers. The themes which form the conceptual basis of Poskovic's prints—fractured memory, cultural displacement, transformation and revival—are universal. In essence, this work guides rather than manipulates the viewer, and allows the images and the text to open a window into the everyday reality of a different world.
Endi Poskovic was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina where he studied music, art and design, and from an early age performed folk music of the Balkans at music festivals throughout Europe and the Middle East. He completed a B.F.A. degree in graphic arts at the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of Sarajevo. A Minnefindet Scholarship, funded by the Norwegian government, enabled him to live in Norway studying art, as well as the Nynorsk language and culture, for an entire year. From Norway, Poskovic moved to the United States to study with Harvey Breverman and Adele Henderson at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he earned an M.F.A. degree in printmaking and visual studies.
Over the course of his career, Poskovic has been the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, most recently from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation (2011) and John D. Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in Italy (2010). Other notable awards include grants from the Confucius Institute (2010); Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies (2010); the Open Studio Centre, Canada (2009 and 2008); the Durfee Foundation (2008); the Flemish Ministry of Culture-Frans Masereel Centrum, Belgium (2008, 2006, 2003, 2001, 1999); the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art (2007 and 2004); the McColl Center for Visual Arts (2007); Can Serrat International Art Centre, Spain (2006); the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (2003); Kala Art Institute (2002); Valparaiso Foundation, Spain (2000); Pollock-Krasner Foundation (1998); MacDowell Colony (1998); the Camargo Foundation, France (1998); the Indiana Arts Commission (1997 and 1996); Art Matters Foundation (1995); the New York State Arts Council (1994); and the Norwegian Government (1990).
His prints have been selected to represent the United States at the most prestigious venues for prints, most recently in the 14th Taiwan International Print Biennial and the 2009 Krakow International Print Triennial, as well as La Biennale Internationale d'Estampe Contemporaine de Trois-Rivières, Canada; Egyptian International Print Triennial; Deutsche Internationale Grafik-Triennale, Frechen, Germany; Tallinn International Triennial, Estonia; Xylon International Triennale, France; and the Ljubljana International Biennale of Graphic Arts, Slovenia. Comprehensive surveys of Poskovic's prints have been organized by the Philadelphia Print Center (2001); the Plains Art Museum (2001); the Des Moines Art Center (2006); the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art (2007); the Interlochen Arts Academy Dow Center for the Arts (2008); and, again in 2008, by the Frans Masereel Centrum in Belgium, which traveled to Stad Leuven Academie en Conservatorium and Atelier Vrije Grafiek, Academie voor Beeldende Kunst-Ghent.
His works are in the permanent collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Royal Antwerp Museum of Fine Arts, Belgium; Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Cairo, Egypt; the Fogg Art Museum-Harvard University; National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts; Republic of China; New Orleans Museum of Art; the Art Institute of Chicago; Orange County Museum of Art, California; the Kennedy Museum of American Art; the University of Iowa Museum of Art; Des Moines Art Center; Seattle Arts Commission; The Krakow International Print Triennial Society Museum of Art, Poland; Tampa Museum of Fine Arts; Vaasa Ostrobothnian Museum, Finland; and the Musée d'Art Contemporain Fernet Branca-Saint-Louis, France.
Since 2008, Endi Poskovic has been teaching at the University of Michigan School of Art and Design as Associate Professor of Art and Design and Associate Faculty in the University of Michigan Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies and the Center for European Studies. Before Michigan, Poskovic served on the faculty at Daemen College, Amherst, NY (1994-95), Ball State University, Indiana (1995-97), California State University-Long Beach (2002), the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (2004), Columbia College Chicago (2005), and Whittier College in Los Angeles (1997-2008).
Endi Poskovic was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina where he studied music, art and design, and from an early age performed folk music of the Balkans at music festivals throughout Europe and the Middle East. He completed a B.F.A. degree in graphic arts at the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of Sarajevo. A Minnefindet Scholarship, funded by the Norwegian government, enabled him to live in Norway studying art, as well as the Nynorsk language and culture, for an entire year. From Norway, Poskovic moved to the United States to study with Harvey Breverman and Adele Henderson at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he earned an M.F.A. degree in printmaking and visual studies.
Over the course of his career, Poskovic has been the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, most recently from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation (2011) and John D. Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in Italy (2010). Other notable awards include grants from the Confucius Institute (2010); Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies (2010); the Open Studio Centre, Canada (2009 and 2008); the Durfee Foundation (2008); the Flemish Ministry of Culture-Frans Masereel Centrum, Belgium (2008, 2006, 2003, 2001, 1999); the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art (2007 and 2004); the McColl Center for Visual Arts (2007); Can Serrat International Art Centre, Spain (2006); the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (2003); Kala Art Institute (2002); Valparaiso Foundation, Spain (2000); Pollock-Krasner Foundation (1998); MacDowell Colony (1998); the Camargo Foundation, France (1998); the Indiana Arts Commission (1997 and 1996); Art Matters Foundation (1995); the New York State Arts Council (1994); and the Norwegian Government (1990).
His prints have been selected to represent the United States at the most prestigious venues for prints, most recently in the 14th Taiwan International Print Biennial and the 2009 Krakow International Print Triennial, as well as La Biennale Internationale d'Estampe Contemporaine de Trois-Rivières, Canada; Egyptian International Print Triennial; Deutsche Internationale Grafik-Triennale, Frechen, Germany; Tallinn International Triennial, Estonia; Xylon International Triennale, France; and the Ljubljana International Biennale of Graphic Arts, Slovenia. Comprehensive surveys of Poskovic's prints have been organized by the Philadelphia Print Center (2001); the Plains Art Museum (2001); the Des Moines Art Center (2006); the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art (2007); the Interlochen Arts Academy Dow Center for the Arts (2008); and, again in 2008, by the Frans Masereel Centrum in Belgium, which traveled to Stad Leuven Academie en Conservatorium and Atelier Vrije Grafiek, Academie voor Beeldende Kunst-Ghent.
His works are in the permanent collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Royal Antwerp Museum of Fine Arts, Belgium; Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Cairo, Egypt; the Fogg Art Museum-Harvard University; National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts; Republic of China; New Orleans Museum of Art; the Art Institute of Chicago; Orange County Museum of Art, California; the Kennedy Museum of American Art; the University of Iowa Museum of Art; Des Moines Art Center; Seattle Arts Commission; The Krakow International Print Triennial Society Museum of Art, Poland; Tampa Museum of Fine Arts; Vaasa Ostrobothnian Museum, Finland; and the Musée d'Art Contemporain Fernet Branca-Saint-Louis, France.
Since 2008, Endi Poskovic has been teaching at the University of Michigan School of Art and Design as Associate Professor of Art and Design and Associate Faculty in the University of Michigan Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies and the Center for European Studies. Before Michigan, Poskovic served on the faculty at Daemen College, Amherst, NY (1994-95), Ball State University, Indiana (1995-97), California State University-Long Beach (2002), the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (2004), Columbia College Chicago (2005), and Whittier College in Los Angeles (1997-2008).
