Patrick Flores uses the word contemplation to describe Maria Taniguchi’s process of completing her drawings.  She has mounted three of them on wooden plinths to stand at the main floor area of UP’s Jorge B. Vargas

Maria Taniguchi, "Untitled (Mirrors)", detail

Museum.  The graphite drawings of negative shapes set against panels of wood have been completed with the use of a brush.  Just as Patrick did, one marvels at how she has achieved the varied tones demanded in simulating wooden grains.  “I asked her if she speaks to her brush”, Patrick remarked, perhaps only half-joking.  In these drawings, the grains resemble more than just patterns on wood.  Maria has made them fluid, almost like seascapes.  To use her words, “ The grain has moved out of its shell, out of its material dimension, it’s moved on to being a more abstract encounter.” Continue reading →