The Moment of
Alignment
The Third Line, Dubai,
2009
This new body of work by British, Bangladeshi born, artist
Rana Begum draws from urban visual stimuli such as the
abstract clashes of form and colour that can be seen in the
city, and combines them with the traditional repetition of
geometric form found in Islamic art.
The work in the show is striving towards this nuanced
experience, and whether springing from the spiritual or
mundane, it embodies the elements that still interest
Begum: form, colour and light. Begum’s work sets out
to transform the overpowering associations of urban
debasement into something poetic. While patterns and forms
found in Islamic Art help to shape the compositions of the
work, for Begum the fascination is how these patterns and
forms reoccur accidentally, randomly and chaotically in the
surrounding environment: road signs, advertising, hazard
markings, the structure of these elements all feed into the
artist’s recent work.
Six large works form the main aspect of the exhibition,
these pieces are made out of box section extruded
aluminium, powder-coated black. These black sections hang
vertically on the wall; 15 parallel bars. Onto them a
second or third colour is sprayed, creating overlaying
pattern, applying a new logic to existing form. When
standing in front of the work only the black surfaces are
seen, traces of the second or third colour are implied by
the way the colour bounces off the wall or depending on the
visual spectrum. It is this glow that brings these
extrusions together and unifies the work creating an
ethereal experience.
