Artist Profile: Muhammad Taufiq (EMTE)

In the beginning, I used human figures as the object in my artworks. Humans are definitely the most captivating object to draw. We are surrounded by the image of humans in our life. It seems that it is our way to convince ourselves that we are where we are supposed to be, that we exists among other people. Another possibility is that we are obsessed with a certain rule that we consider as ideal: a pretty face, a good body, convincing gesture, a charismatic look and so on. And every human figure that I drew is doing a casual activity.

However, at one point, I felt uncomfortable. On certain parts of the drawings that I have created, I made a kind of ‘explosion’, blurring the images that I have built previously. I destroyed our established impression of shapes. I draw with liquid acrylics, an incredibly plastic medium that can be used to elaborate shapes and present details. On the other hand, this medium is is very liquid, almost uncontrollable, seeping into the drawing field or melting drawn by gravity. It represents the characteristics of a medium that does not fully abide the artist’s desire.At this point, the liquid acrylics is back to its original characteristics, melting uncontrollably and free. Its not a controlled medium used to create any shape based on the artist’s desires. It still has its characteristics and I explore such characteristics through the canvas.

This is like a form of gentle hardness. In this, I showed the shapes that I made, the ones that we see every day, not as sturdy. Behind their appearances lies a different force, which seems to be gentle, although it’s not necessarily weak.

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