Rana Begum comes full circle with Taking Form, a colourful new exhibition in Dubai
Two swabs of colour meet at the corners. An orange, bold and of a sunset hue, is overtaken by a smear of forest green. The two colours don’t mix, making how they interact all the more remarkable. The original vivacity of the orange is subdued underneath the green, with only a dark trace of its outline remaining. Like the rest of the watercolour works in Rana Begum ’s exhibition at The Third Line,…
Rana Begum's exhibition, Taking Form, is set to reopen at The Third Line in Dubai, marking a full circle moment for the globally-established artist. Known for her fascination with colour, Begum returns to the gallery, this time as a member of the Royal Academy of Arts. Her fifth exhibition at The Third Line showcases her ongoing experiments with colour interactions across various mediums, including watercolours, tapestries, and linen canvases.
Begum's journey with colour began when she moved away from figurative art, as she struggled with expressing herself through abstract colour. Her first solo exhibition, Colour Codes, held in 2007, focused on these colour interactions using adhesive tape and resin. The centrepiece of Taking Form is a trio of tapestry pieces suspended from the high ceiling, displaying an intricate interplay of colours on both sides.
The front side features dark indigo threads against varying shades of blue and burgundy, while the reverse side reveals a pattern created through a unique weaving technique designed by a UK-based company. Begum's exploration of colour continues on linen canvases and medium-density fibreboard, where she highlights the properties of the materials themselves.
Her use of pink on fibreboard accentuates its chips and straws, while the linen's tufts are emphasized in colourful square triangle compositions. As her fifth exhibition at The Third Line, Taking Form demonstrates Begum's growth and mastery over colour, having come full circle from her early struggles to her current position as a celebrated artist.
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