Seriality tempts us to fixate on the most obvious deviations in Maria Taniguchi’s new work. In a suite of square patterned canvases a portion stripped of paint, a section wherein color does not take, or an outline obscured, may at turns mean disengaging from the illusion of symmetry or the body reaching its limit. In all cases, pattern asks us to reckon with its gesture and technology of iteration. These are deviations that manifest texture, create rhythm. It is through this iterability that we resist confinement. Spread out across an entire room, these are digressions that motivate one to move from one canvas to the next, across the room, traversing space.
In room of phases, we find a compelling dynamic between pattern and possibility, design and its disintegration. The title alludes to this oscillation. A phase is as much a significant period as it is a moment in a process which is defined by its transformation. It might refer to how different facets of the moon are seen across space-time, depending on illumination. It may speak to the courses of action in a plan. It may also apply to psychological development. It marks certain thresholds: time passing, the clearing of stages, shifts in attitude or disposition.