November 26, 2015
(SHANGHAI—November 26, 2015) Larys Frogier, Director of the Rockbund Art Museum (RAM), and Marc Le Mat, Managing Director of HUGO BOSS CHINA RETAIL CO. LTD, announced today that Maria Taniguchi has been awarded the 2015 HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Award for Emerging Asian Artists. Maria Taniguchi (Philippines) was selected from six nominated artists ̶ Guan Xiao (Mainland China), Huang Po-Chih (Taiwan), Moe Satt (Myanmar), Vandy Rattana (Cambodia), and Yang Xinguang (Mainland China)—whose work is on view at RAM in a group show until January 3, 2016.
Larys Frogier, Chair of the HUGO BOSS ASIA ART jury, explained: “With the precious contribution of the HUGO BOSS ASIA ART 2015 jury members, we are extremely proud to reward the female artist Maria Taniguchi from Philippines, Manila. Her very singular, humble but extremely focused practice of painting and video enriches the limits of media and raised a unique sensitivity of making the picture with infinite possibilities of meaning.”
“We would like to extend our sincere congratulations to Maria Taniguchi, and to express our gratitude to the jury as well as to the the Rockbund Art Museum for their dedication and cooperation in this project,” stated Dr. Hjördis Kettenbach, Head of Cultural Affairs at HUGO BOSS. “The Award is an important part of our arts program and we are thankful to see how it is giving emerging artists a platform for their work.”
Maria Taniguchi was born in 1981 in Dumaguete, Philippines, and lives and works in Manila, Philippines. Throughout her paintings, sculptures, and videos, her work involves a fetishism of form. Maria Taniguchi’s voluminous brick paintings employ rigorous composition and monochromic techniques, with a dense investment of time and labour which is transformed into a visual spectacle. Her sculptures establish a tangible system in space, as well as an order and logic of viewing and participation. The manipulation of the camera and the status and movement of the objects in her video works also brings about consistent rhythms and patterns. With such logics and patterns, Maria Taniguchi unpacks knowledge and experience—connecting material culture, technology, and natural evolution—and investigates space and time, along with social and historical contexts. The artist finds herself in the exhausted socio-political situation and economic structure amid the reality of the Philippines, and projects this constant experience onto her works.
As part of the HUGO BOSS arts program, the biannual Award is conceived and curated by the Rockbund Art Museum. It carries a stipend of 300,000 Japanese Yen, and aims to honour emerging contemporary Asian artists who are in the early stages of their artistic creation and exhibition practices. As a defining component of each edition, an appointed jury is in charge of nominating and selecting the shortlisted artists and the final winner.
Publication
In relation to the HUGO BOSS ASIA ART Award 2015, the Rockbund Art Museum has published a catalogue featuring projects by each of the six nominated artists as well as specially commissioned essays offering insight into their practices. The catalogue, designed by Shanghai-based designer Wang Jiayi, includes texts by Nav Haq, Gong Jow-Jiun, Tang Fu Kuen, Joselina Cruz, Pamela Nguyen Corey, and Bao Dong, with an introduction by Larys Frogier. It is available at the Rockbund Art Museum.
