‘Line-Form-Balance’: Exhibition explores strength and survival through art
On a warm day in the month of Bhadra, Kala Kendra inaugurated “Line-Form-Balance” – Sculpture & Drawing, a solo art exhibition by artist Towfiqur Rahman. The ceremony took place in the building’s front yard on September 11, with several distinguished people in attendance. The event was hosted by the curator of this exhibition and the CEO of Kala Kendra, Wakilur Rahman, who wholeheartedly praised the artist’s work, along with analysing his work methods. The former Dean of the Institute of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka, Nisar Hossain, spoke about being awestruck on seeing the artworks. He also said that Towfiqur has an immense understanding of materials and their properties. After the ceremony, the exhibition was open to visitors.
Towfiqur Rahman completed his BFA from the Faculty of Fine Arts, DU, and MFA from the Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing, China. Along with participating in numerous solo and group art exhibitions, he has also curated several. Kala Kendra exhibits his sculptures and drawings, most of which stand between figurative and abstract work. The artist says, “My work is mainly concerned with human and animal figures – their visible forms, inner emotions, and their relationship with the natural world. I work in both drawing and sculpture, but the two media draw from the same source, the desire to look into familiar forms, and discover the unknown in them”.
Towfiqur prefers to let his imagination run wild while creating his art. Sometimes, parts of an animal or a human overlap with lines and other forms to create something totally different but with identifiable portions. Just like his drawing, he follows the same principles for his sculptures. He works with steel and metal sheets, wires, and bars, welding them to give them the desired shapes, which can be a slightly distorted figure of a goat, or a human body, or maybe even a human face.
The artist mentioned that through his art, he tries to portray things and beings that he sees around him most of the time, living close to an industrial zone. His art is his way to look at and feel the people, plants, and animals that struggle to survive in this world. He likes to depict their strength through strong, durable mediums.
The artist loves to work with technology and bold forms. But he does not always give a concrete shape to some of his pieces in order for people to look, feel, and interpret them the way they want to. In the curator’s words, “the artist’s work is highly based on his experience. He has less attraction towards the contemporary glamorous demand of art.” Thus, even when we see ephemeral lives in his art, they’re built with strong materials and rough, rugged surfaces.
Towfiqur Rahman, via his art, shows that delicate plants, animals, and humans can also survive nature and man-made chaos with their strength and instincts. His unique approach to art will be showcased at Kala Kendra till September 27, daily from 4pm to 8pm.
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