Makoto Taniguchi was born in Tokyo in 1982 and completed his studies in Intermedia Art at the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts. He has participated in nu-merous exhibitions both in Japan and overseas including, “Bishoujo” Young Pretty Girls in Art History” (Aomori Museum of Art / Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art / Iwami Art Museum / MoNTUE Museum of National Taipei University of Education, 2014~2015, 2019), “Takashi Murakami's Superflat Collection - From Shōhaku and Ro-sanjin to Anselm Kiefer-” (Yokohama Museum of Art, 2016), and “TOKYO POP UN-DERGROUND” (Jeffrey Deitch, New York, 2019).

Taniguchi’s box-like paintings comprised of mirrors, acrylic sheets, paint, and wood, could be assumed as miniascapes that serve to symbolize humankind. In viewing the works we are simultaneously confronted by the sight of paint applied to the surface of the transparent acrylic sheet, and a portrait that is reflected in the mirror inside the box. Due to this, our line of sight is made to naturally shift back and forth between the two. That which is seen in the mirror is created as a result of the paint, and it is the paint reflected in the mirror that essentially results in the manifestation of the image. Despite this obvious reciprocal relationship, many of us recognize the image reflected in the mirror as being that of a girl, and regard her as a “presence that is familiar to us.” Nevertheless, we are of course only able to set eyes upon her within this very system.