FutureEverything - winner of the Lever Prize 2010

No. 207 - Rana Begum

2010
Mixed Media Installation

Initiated during her residency in Beirut, No.207 (2010) vigorously pursues Rana Begum’s interest in the formal language of drawing and the artistic potency of line and colour.

Removing domestic hardware from its utilitarian context, Rana has limited her materials to commercially available drinking straws, in five standard colors (fluorescent green, yellow, pink, orange and black). Composed entirely of glowing lines, the resulting modular superstructure explores the possibility of reducing complex elements to their vital parts. It also demonstrates the generative potential of Rana’s systematic application of the restricted vocabulary of ready-made fluorescent materials. 

No. 207 renews Rana’s commitment to serial and rational forms; and their subsequent emphasis on phenomenological strategies. With No. 207 she engages in an even more discursive relationship with the viewer. Feeding on the architecture of the gallery space, she cuts sharp lines across it, defines glowing perimeters, re-organises volumes and surfaces according to abstract cartographies. The radiant presence of the floating modules, the stressed contrast between their fragile glow and the boldness of their hues invite us to carefully re-consider our perception of and relationship to artificial spaces.

No.207 is rooted in Rana’s observation of the urban milieu, the aesthetic possibilities of the city and the implications of architectural modernism. The work’s fluorescent colors evoke Beirut’s buzzing night scene, and its convoluted modular shapes recall the chaotic maze of a metropolis. The piece 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.

Eva Langret, 2010

www.ranabegum.co.uk