The ten works presented in this exhibition are inspired from a circus performance. In the circus, the underlying beauty comes from surprises. Even though people might have seen it more than once, performances with such an attractive movement and speed always allow the presence of unexpected things. Take for example when a performer jumps from one ring to another at high speed. As the audience, we already know that the performer will reach the final point eventually. However, due to the high speed and the equipment’s being possibly fragile, the audience is provided with chances to be speculative about the unfavorable events. In case such unfavorable events are about to happen, the performers have  the right to improvise instinctively for their safety.

The circus performance is an analogy representing the way Taher sees, feels, and responds to how his world operates. He realizes that the unexpected will keep happening. However, the slight optimism will manage to sneak in among despair or feeling of uncertainty. For instance, at  the time I typed this writing, Taher had just gone through a crisis due to COVID-19 pandemic that caused him some restrictions. He is very adaptive and quick in finding ways to fit in. Even in his solitude, he gets by through quickly adapting to current situations and putting no restriction around his intuition.

It is the same as when Taher follows his feelings, emotions, and intuition while drawing lines and stroking colors on canvas. He manages to put his feelings, emotions, intuition, and senses in the balance in order to respond to things happening outside himself and eventually transform them into dynamic lines and colors on canvas. As I have mentioned earlier, his lines work in a way that is full of surprises. As the  audience, it will remain a challenge for us to guess where Taher will  end the lines and start other lines at different points.

Taher depicting what his hands do in an unplanned manner as a manifestation of his emotions, energies, and body moves. He has abandoned all established social identities attributed to himself for the sake of becoming the Taher who paints expressively,  impressively, and intuitively. If I, as the writer for Taher’s ten works here, may give a suggestion to the audience, I think it is better not to use any symbols and logic we are attributed with and set our emotions and feelings free to get carried away with Taher’s intuitive works of circle of life.