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- Return of the art fairs: Frieze London and Frieze Masters to open in Regent's Park
- Maxwell Alexandre, Conny Maier, Zhang Xu Zhan: Deutsche Bank's "Artists of the Year" at the PalaisPopulaire
- Ways of Seeing Abstraction: Rana Begum, WP 410-412, 2020
- Ways of Seeing Abstraction: Franziska Furter, Draft IX/V, 2010
- Kunstsammlung NRW - Everyone is an artist. Cosmopolitan exercises with Joseph Beuys
- Royal Academy of Arts - David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020
- Ways of Seeing Abstraction: Fabian Marti, Untitled, 2011
- Ways of Seeing Abstraction: Jo�o Maria Gusm�o + Pedro Paiva
- Ways of Seeing Abstraction: Beat Zoderer, Polygon I-VI, 2019
- Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt - Gilbert & George: The Great Exhibition
- Ways of Seeing Abstraction: Karla Knight, Spaceship Note (The Fantastic Universe), 2020
Ways of Seeing Abstraction:
Rana Begum, WP 410-412, 2020
Most
people still understand abstraction as a concentration on form. It is
viewed as an art movement which is used to express aesthetic ideas,
orders, philosophical ideas or inner feelings, but which does not have
much to do with everyday reality. However, especially in times marked
by crises, relevance and urgency are also expected from art, and it is
expected to make a statement on current social issues. Today, artistic
commitment is not conveyed exclusively through clear visual messages
and content, but increasingly through abstraction. For younger
generations, in particular, non-representational art is the means of
choice for addressing politics, religion, and social issues. Showcasing
works from the Deutsche Bank Collection, the exhibition “Ways of Seeing
Abstraction” at the PalaisPopulaire undertakes a thoroughly subjective
survey of international abstraction from postwar modernism to the
recent present, documenting the diversity and discursivity that lie
behind the idea of non-objective, “pure” form. On the occasion of the
exhibition, our series will show you works by artists who use
abstraction idiosyncratically and define it in new ways.
Rana Begum, WP 410-412, 2020
© Begum Studio & Jhaveri Contemporary
She can very much remember the difference between the light in Bangladesh and in London, where she arrived one sunny winter morning to go to school, says Rana Begum. While the light in her old home country was fresh and clear, in Great Britain it was murkier, yet richer in color nuances. Everything in Begum's work revolves around the experience of light. This is also the case in this study for a wall piece. “There is something about working on paper at the moment that brings out the need to touch and feel. I found this tracing paper that allows me to do these drawings that are also transparent, light, and feel free.”
Begum has been influenced by the geometric abstraction of Minimalism and Constructivism, as well as by Agnes Martin's transcendent paintings, and Donald Judd's steel cubes. She often works with industrial materials such as steel, aluminum, copper, and plexiglas, producing subtle, almost weightless sculptures and wall works that sensitize the viewer to the space, to every movement, and to every incidence of light. In addition to their clear form, there is always something poetic and spiritual about Begum's works. She finds this in everyday materials, and in the geometries of traditional lslamic art, but above all in memories of her childhood in Bangladesh: the undulating green rice fields and the light on the water that she could watch for hours.