Silverlens is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by Kitty Taniguchi. The show called Flower Moon continues the artist’s experiments in unpacking universal symbols of mythology to articulate collective existential musings. 

The collection begins with the oil painting, Flower Moon and Desert Sky. The title refers to a natural phenomenon in May when a full moon is at its closest approach to Earth and folklore beliefs celebrate flowers coming into full bloom and increased fertility. In Taniguchi’s planetary vocabulary, the moon is an outline of lavender set in a blood-red sky dominating half the canvas. Below it are birds perched randomly with an assembly of unusual-looking flowers and plants. There is a solitary white wing in flight beside this confident moon looking curiously misplaced and not fitting in as if in a dream or hallucination. 

Another iteration of this work in oil as well is called Flower Moon and Desert Sky 2. The moon is in the color of aged cheese tinged with red and spreading yellow brightness like the sun across the canvas. Here the recurring images in Taniguchi’s oeuvre are introduced and repeated: lions, crows, and the odd botany. The images are shown as if they were taken out of their context, distorting their real origins while building the foundations of a new one. 

In other works using acrylic and ink on paper, the lion is with a cheetah and a woman stands as if in the middle of a narrative with an unknown plot. The sun is drawn sparingly in concentric circles and there are sketches of buildings behind her. Another work on paper shows a woman in a red dress swooping down to a grey-tinged cityscape with a winged unicorn below her and crows lying on their back in mid-air. 

The crows drawn downside up will be repeated in the rest of the exhibit set in urban backgrounds. If not flying, the crow is seen on the ground as if walking in one work while a masked woman standing with clasped hands is calm beside an orange unicorn and cheetah. Taniguchi draws on the crow’s rich mythic past immortalized in literature and medieval art as a harbinger of magic and mysticism by linking it to our very human present day. Nor is this the first time the creatures figure in her art practice. It has also been present in her work as a poet.  

The crow is placed in Taniguchi’s drawings adjacent to the main image as if signalling the promise of hidden potential and change. The bird is seen listening beside a group of women in the middle of a conversation; at the side of a solitary figure on a park bench or under a tree. A crow can also be seen beside a woman poised in a dancing position. In one work the bird waits beside an enlarged sliced fruit and a miniature one with three women standing with their hands in prayer. The women are shown blank-faced yet their poses are one of waiting, relaxation, or meditation. They are not in a hurry and seem to be biding their time despite having face masks on. In some of the drawings, even the pets are masked like their human masters.  

One work in black and white shows a landscape where all these totems meet in one fantastic setting with pyramids and the vista of a harsh city on the horizon. Taniguchi’s line drawings here are loose and squiggly retelling these sacred stories for contemporary times. Looking at the pieces in the show now during a lockdown, one feels that these images are neither strange nor bizarre but rather comforting. We are still living inside a pandemic after all, in an in-between, liminal space where some are vaccinated while others are not. Myth-making has a way of clarifying our understanding of a world so chaotic; you would not blink if you encountered a lion lounging nearby a park bench but would even sit down calmly beside it. 

Dumaguete-based Kitty Taniguchi is a widely exhibited visual artist, gallerist, and poet both locally and overseas. She also manages her own art space. Her show will be presented at Silverlens Gallery from May 14 to June 11, 2021.

Words by Joyce Roque

Cristina “Kitty” Taniguchi (b.1952) completed an MA in English and American Literature at Silliman University in 1985, completing her thesis work titled Gothic Tales in Siquijor: Their Theological Implications. She has been painting since. She has had solo exhibitions at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Ayala Museum, Pinto Gallery, and at Mariyah Gallery, an artist-run space she founded in 1992. She has had numerous group exhibitions. She lives and works in Dumaguete City.

Josephine V. Roque is a writer and lecturer based in Manila. She has written profiles and reviews for ArtAsia Pacific, Art Review Asia and Art Plus Magazine and is currently starting on a collection of new work.