# Najib Tareque

Najib Tareque, (born September 5, 1970, as Abu Najib Mohammed Tareque) is a Bengali artist, printmaker and writer based on Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is best known for his new media artworks and one of the pioneers of online art galleries in Bangladesh. Tareque was the founding member of Jolrong, one of the first online art galleries in South Asia. Since 1987, he has been part of various group and solo exhibitions both in the country and abroad. He participates more than twenty individual and joint exhibitions in the country and abroad.
In 1998 he was awarded by the Forest Department of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

## Early life

Abu Najib Mohammad Tareque was born on 5 September 1970, in Borogur Gola, Dinajpur, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). His father was Tamizuddin and mother Nujratun Nisa. Tareque is the fifth among seven siblings. By his father's career, his childhood and early life span in Thakurgaon, Rajshahi and in Dinajpur district.
His early education began in the village's school. After completing school exam from Rajshahi Collegiate School in 1986, he studied Dinajpur Government College. In 1987, he admitted studying Printmaking in Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Dhaka. He was graduated in 1994 and after finished post graduation in 2000 from the faculty. While being a student, he was merely acting in the movement against anti-autocracy movement, and for the Nirmul Committee.

## Career

Tareque worked as a chief artist for such national newspapers, including Daily Jugantor from 1999 to 2001 and Daily Janakantha from 2002 to 2004. He also worked with Ekushey Television from 2001 to 2003. From 2004 to 2011, he was also appointed as a brand marketing consultant of the Standard Chartered Bank Limited in Dhaka. Besides, he has been appointed as the Information Technology Secretary of the Bangladesh Charushilpi Sangsad.

## Works

   The birth of art is in the deepest part of the brain death is also there. An art piece is the skeleton of art. In the sells market, art is not sold, the skeleton of art is sold there. The buyer builds up his own taste by buying art pieces. A child creates art in order to prove its existence. Without expression, it has no other way to prove its existence. With the growth of age, its fact of expression grows more. According to the clash of different opposite fact, the child gets attracted by different social rules & regulation, in addition to that, sexual role or the recreating power which is to preserve the existence or creativity hides his spontaneous form of expression. Social existence becomes like his own existence when he feels that he and the society are the different forms of the same existence, he is the unit of the society, his creativity becomes spontaneous again. Abstraction is not a style. The soul of art is found in abstraction. The extremely delicate angle of vision creates abstract art or breaks down the temporary impenetrable wall. God is the symbol of loving urge, sexuality is the proof of creativity.
Tareque is mainly a printmaker. However, he did numerous work in the several mediums including oil, water, and acrylic, but he mostly on the mix-media. Tareque's earlier works highlighted nature, structure, figures, sketches, and portrait became the subject of his paintings. His portraits and figures are considered as semi-realistic and often surrealistic or impressionistic. Most of his paintings have vibrant colours, and the backgrounds are moving is dominant. Initially, multivariate fragility noted in his paintings that often reminds the artworks of the Fauvist artists. Paul Klee's painting are often remembered when analyzing the space and intention of Tareque's painting "Antarer Anusandhan" and "Naree Banam Naree". Tareque has often used the Arabic alphabet and the use of words in the art of painting. Tareque has tried to create own art form mainly by synthesizing different doctrines of paintings rather than a specific one. There is a logical appreciation about the life of artist Tareque in the opening words: "God is amorphous, inactive, and absolute emptiness, religions are the historic events for the human society, which increasingly becoming history. Those who have a lack of knowledge of history are either religious, maybe anti-religious, or antipathetic."
In 1994, two of his solo exhibitions were organized. "Joy Manabata" is his first solo exhibition which was held in May 1994 with Alliance Française in Dhaka. Most of the 42 paintings of the exhibition were the subject matter of the human. Where the human form has been depicted in the form of Durga, Nomad, Ravana, Ullas, etc. Some paintings of Tareque, who believe in the Evolution theory, are found in the resemblance of the non-human face with the human body, through which he has expressed his desire to illustrate the ugly image of the human.
In 2009, he participated in the group exhibition held in Mumbai, India. He got acquainted with the illustration of book covers and literary magazines, dissiging of clothing, etc. In Bangladesh, he tried to turn the traditional illustrations of the book covers into modern art.
In 2015, Tareque took an initiative to create an artists hub and launched a gallery Studio 6/6 at Mohammedpur, Dhaka, when the co-founder was his daughter Taiara Farhana Tareque. After initial launch of the studio has hosted several exhibitions, workshops, and events featuring artists from different talents, as musicians, painters, writers etc.

### "Art Makes Us Human"

Online-based conceptual virtual art project Art Makes Us Human starts since July 2015 through the social media Instagram. Later in May 2016, a solo exhibition of the project was organized in the Studio 6/6 Gallery located in Dhaka. It was first physical exhibition of its kind in the country, with around 15 physical prints of digital paintings. As a part of the project, Tareque composed his old and new combination of decoration, using many of his previously drawn illustrations for various books, newspapers and magazines. The colourful artworks mostly using bold strokes, striking colours and enthralling patterns to create human faces and figures, birds and different geometric forms. Since its online launching nearly more than 1500 artworks are published under the project, in various social media including Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Facebook.

## Personal life

Najib married Bangladeshi painter Farhana Afroz Bappy. They have a daughter Taiara Farhana Tareque (born 1994), she is also a young artist, and a son Farhand Abu Tamjiad. In 2015, the artist family launched Studio 6/6, an art spaces based in Dhaka.
In April 2017, a joint exhibition of this couple was organized in Dhaka at their own art gallery named Studio 6/6 under the heading "Nirman" ("Construction").

## Notable exhibitions
### Solo exhibition

| Date | Exhibition | Venue |
| May, 1994 | Joy Manabata | Alliance Française de Dhaka |
| 9–15 September, 1994 | Joy of Humanity | Jojon Art Gallery, Dhaka |
| January, 2003 | What is Art | Webcity, Dhaka |
| August, 2010 | Iqra—A Painter's Salute to Reading | Impressions Gallery, Gulshan, Dhaka |
| August, 2011 | Ikra and Others | Impressions Gallery |
| April, 2011 | Story of Story Telling | Impressions Gallery |
| 2015 | Anybody Can Do It, Please Do It | |
| 15–25 May, 2016 | Art Makes Us Human | Studio 6/6, Dhaka |
| 29 November - 10 December 2019 | Anybody Can Do It, Please Do It | Dwip Gallery, Lalmatia |

### Joint exhibitions

| Year | Exhibition | Venue | Co-artists |
| 1989 | Nine Young Artist | Goethe-Institut Bangladesh, Dhaka | |
| 1991 | Zainul Utshab 1991 | Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka | |
| 1991 | 20 Years of Victory | Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka | |
| 1991 | Expression '91 | Bangladesh National Museum, Dhaka | |
| 1991 | Exhibition of 101 Artist | Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka | |
| 1991 | Greater Dinajpur Artist, Expression 1991 | Lokbhaban, Dinajpur | |
| 1991 | 1st Contemporary Young Artist Exhibit 1991 | Bangladesh National Museum, Dhaka | |
| 1992 | Zainul Utshab 1992 | Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka | |
| 1992 | 2nd Contemporary Young Artist' Exhibition 1992 | Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka | |
| 1992 | Obsession Group Show | Jahangirnagar University | |
| 1992 | Tenth National Artist Show 1992 | Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka | |
| 1993 | Zainul Utshab 1993 | Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka | |
| 1993 | Greater Dinajpur Artist, Expression 1993 | Dinajpur High School, Dinajpur | |
| 1993 | National Miniature Art Exhibition 1993 | Gallery Tone, Dhaka | |
| 1993 | 6th Asian Art Biennale Bangladesh 1996 | Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka | |
| 2016, August 19–31 | Art Against Terrorism: Brave Heart | Gallery Cosmos, Dhaka | 35 individuals |
| 2017, May 6–15 | Nirman | Studio 6/6, Dhaka | Farhana Afroz |
| 2017, May 6–18, | Oboyobi | Studio 6/6, Dhaka | Farhana Afroz |
| 2020, May 8–31, | Mrinmoy Art Gallery | Online Art Exhibition, Chittagong | |

### Cover illustrations

* Ghorer Latim Ar Sutar Jaymity Dhaka Tolpet (2010)
* Bokkhapinjor Bonam Ostho Ar Chokhbondher Kobita (2015)
* And Those Other Ghosts Of Love (2016)
* Ishwarer Sontanera (February 2017; Kotha Prakash)

## Literary works

Apart from composing art, Tareque has studied literature; wrote verse, essay, discussion, etc. In 1996, he wrote Kobitar Chitrayon Proshonge about painting and literature, published under the Young Writer' Project of Bangla Academy. He also published two volume of drawings books for the children.