These “drawings” were first initiated during Begum’s residency in Beirut in 2010 where the artist limited her materials to commercially available drinking straws, in five standard colours (fluorescent green, yellow, pink, orange and black).
For “The Shapes We’re In” Begum pursues her interest in the formal language of drawing and the artistic potency of line and colour, re-imagining this work and resurrecting it with a more enduring material – that of welded steel rods.
The presence of the floating modules, the stressed contrast between their fragile lines and the boldness of the coloured surface, invite us to carefully re-consider our perception of and relationship to artificial spaces.
This work is rooted in Begum’s observation of the urban milieu, the aesthetic possibilities of the city and the implications of architectural modernism. As noted by Eva Langret, it “draws its origins from the reduction and condensation of the urban experience to its most universally significant visual stimuli”. Dealing with architectural propositions, as much as with the formal possibilities of Minimalism and Abstraction, the resulting visual composition is “as experiential as it is poetic”.
Rana Begum was born in Sylhet, Bangladesh in 1977 moving to the UK in 1985. She graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art with an MFA in Painting in 2002.
Solo shows include Parasol Unit and Bischoff/Weiss, London, The Third Line, Dubai, Galerie Christian Lethert, Cologne, Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai, Galeri Mana, Istanbul.
In 2012 Begum received the Jack Goldhill Award for sculpture at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
Begum has undertaken several significant public commissions including Surbiton Health Centre and Marcol House in London, Kiran Nadar Museum Delhi, and Cleveland Clinic Ohio.
No. 622 Drawing: Paint and powder-caoted mild stee, w74 x h59 x d66 cm 2015
No. 623 Drawing, Vinyl and powder-coated mild steel, w75 x h67 x d73 cm, 2015
No. 624, Drawing, vinyl and powder-coated mild steel, w 74 x h64 x d46 cm, 2015
Bread And Jam 