Connecting with nature

Paintings by Md. Tokon.Takir Hossain

Grace Institute Art Gallery in New York is going to organise a nine-day art exhibition, titled “Breathing Colour” featuring Bangladeshi expatriate painter Md. Tokon. The painter has been in New York since 2001. Over the years the artist has carved a niche for himself in the city's art scene. The exhibition will start from May 24 and will continue till July 1.

Tokon left the country after graduating from the Institute of Fine Arts (now Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka). He studied Communication Design at The City University of New York. He is also a graphic designer. Last year, his solo exhibition was held at Sky Lobby Gallery in New York.

In Bangladesh, Tokon had lived in Jhenidah and Dhaka. Urban life, the surrounding ambience and social structure have made a great impact on him. He has gradually transformed himself into an abstract expressionist painter.

Tokon's works explore nature, human relationships, personal loss, social injustice, physiological journey and inner visions.

The artist usually uses flat colours and creates several textures and forms on the canvas. Colours and vague forms are noticeable features of his abstract paintings. His compositions reveal rough texture and sensuous arrangement of space. Primarily, the artist concentrates on the space. Crimson, azure, yellow, emerald green and black are predominately used in his works.