Maria Taniguchi was born in Dumaguete City, the Philippines in 1981. She received her bachelor degree in sculpture at University of the Philippines in 2007 and her MFA in Art Practice at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2009. After her graduation from Goldsmiths and through 2010, she participated in the LUX Associate Artists Programme in London, a post-academic course for artists working in moving images.
Taniguchi’s works encompass painting, sculpture, video and installation. Her practices investigate space and time along with social and historical contexts including the social-political and economic situations of Philippines. Untitled (brick paintings) is an ongoing series that had been initiated in 2008. Each painting consists of cells equally sized at 2 by 4 centimeters, each one outlined by hand with white graphite and filled with gray and black tones. These paintings develop in various extents, some reaching meters in size. Never hung, they are placed on the floor leaning against the walls. The constructive structure embodies architectural elements and the paintings themselves serve as a monumental existence within the space. While the simplicity in form could possibly be thought of as something related to minimalism, the bricks also serve to represent a historical meaning of industrial civilization. Taniguchi has stated that she considers these paintings more as objects in space rather than as images, and that the brick paintings actually belong to a single larger entity that has been broken down into pieces. The body of work explores not merely the accumulation, continuity and expansion in space and time, but also the relationships between fragments and entity.
Taniguchi received the Ateneo Art Award twice for her solo exhibitions in Manila respectively in 2011 and 2012, and there has been a greater inclusion of her work in exhibitions both domestically and internationally ever since. Her recent group exhibition participation includes “GLOBALE: New Sensorium” at ZKM, Karlsruhe (2016), 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane (2015), “HUGO BOSS ASIA ART: Award for Emerging Asian Artists” at Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai (2015) --- as a winner of the award --- and “Sights and Sounds: Global Film and Video” at Jewish Museum, New York (2014). Her works are included in the permanent collection of M+ and K11 in Hong Kong and Queensland Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane.
