Tonmoy Khan at Tierra del Sol

Flora, fauna, and video games coalesce to form Tonmoy Khan’s carefully crafted universe. In Everything, the multimedia artist’s first solo exhibition with Tierra del Sol, Khan employs just what the title suggests— a little bit of everything. Watercolors, oil pastels, markers, and pencil, among other materials, come together on paper in scenes that range from serene still lifes to chaotic illustrations of the cosmos. 

Khan uses tape to create grids and geometric watercolor patterns that recall Hard Edge Abstraction, while a frequent depiction of disembodied floating limbs brings a surrealist quality to his works. The artist refers to his “Secret Imagination” as a guiding force that propels him through feelings of homesickness for Bangladesh. The unpredictability of Khan’s work feels akin to the mysterious expanse of nature — patterns abound, but so too do cosmic disruptions, as seen in the piece Happy for the Universe (2021), which boasts a smiling anthropomorphic cloud at its center, surrounded by planets in a surrealist, otherworldly swirl. Khan presents an ambitious yet accessible language for interpreting the world as he sees it. 

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On view: January 14 – March 4, 2023

Photo: Happy for the Universe (detail) (2021). Image courtesy of the artist and Tierra del Sol gallery.