Farhana Akhter was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh.  She migrated to the United States with her family at the age of ten. Since then, she has traveled extensively throughout the world including visits to her homeland. She currently lives and works in the Long Island area of New York.

Her mixed media paintings explore the transformative journey from chaos to harmony and grace. The found objects incorporated in to the paintings, are symbolic of the transformative process which combine the organic elements such as moss, dried flowers, rice, lentil, with inorganic materials such as plastic, glass, metal etc.

Her paintings represent interactions with the inner and external worlds and cyclic phases of nature and life.  Her color palette reflects the rich and vibrant hues influenced by her native land and culture. About her most recent abstract paintings she says, “I explore color, texture and application techniques to convey the stages of motion, fusion and stillness. These images represent the universal struggle to create balance and to transform chaos into harmony and beauty.”

Having studied at the Art Students League in New York, NY, Farhana is a prolific and versatile artist. Her work continues to evolve as she experiments with mixed media added to oil and acrylic paints. Contrasting colors are applied with subtle blends, dramatic cuts and slashes. The canvases are at times monochromatic or heavily textured with multiple layers. In her current work, she has combined cold wax with oil on canvas. She also uses textured paste and found objects for her acrylic on canvas paintings.

Her earlier work consisted of a series of paintings that are neo-symbolic and figurative and deal with existence and human interactions. She has also created several paintings dedicated to nostalgic memories from her childhood and experience in Bangladesh.

Farhana has had numerous exhibitions in New York City and Washington DC areas.  Her work has been reviewed several times by Studio & Gallery magazine. The artist’s work is in various collections throughout the United States. She has also curated exhibitions at the Broadway Mall Gallery in New York City.

Her course of study at the University of Maryland was Psychology and Arts & Humanities.

Praise for Farhana Akhter

"Farhana Akhter, creates wide open color field compositions that envelop the viewer in soft chromatic auras akin to Jules Olitski’s shimmering veils of sprayed pigment. But, unlike Olitski, who once stated that he would prefer “colors sprayed into air,” Akhter also provides the viewer a tactile “handle”, with swirling textures that create a sensual tension between elusive atmospherics and palpable form."
Byron Coleman, Gallery & Studio Magazine

"The infinite possibilities of pigment itself is the subject of Farhana Akhter’s “Color Series”, in which overall compositions enlivened by scumbled textures, painterly palimpsests, scraped surfaces, and other evidence of process create palpable excitement. Akhter’s commitment comes through in the depth and chromatic subtlety of her oils."
Maureen Flynn, Gallery & Studio Magazine

"Farhana Akhter successfully combines pastoral evocativeness and geometric stringency in abstract landscapes distinguished by luminous color and compositional precision, evoking a sense of vast vistas with impressive economy of means."
Marie R. Pagano, Gallery & Studio Magazine