Dappled light by Rana Begum

During the summer break away from college I went to different exhibitions. One of the exhibitions I went to was 'dappled light' by Rana Begum.

This exhibition was presented in the Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery in London. Within this exhibition she says she focused on exploring 'light, materials and colour.'

when i walked into the exhibition, the first thing which stood out to me was the large sculpture in the middle of the room. This intrigued me as metal boxes are stacked onto of each other in a way which creates a weightless feel. When i got closer I found these are all made of steel, this surprised me as the material looks very lightweight, this sensation is created through the Transparent, mesh pattern and manipulated shapes which formed different tones/opacity's, subsequently creating depth.

Next to the instillation was a basket which showed her inspiration for this piece. There were different samples of netting which she was inspiring her. i really liked this feature as it allows the audience to see more of Begum's thought process when she was creating the design.

Next, my second favourite part of this exhibition was this wall. here are lots of textured blocks which have all been painted in different colours.

To create this, I think Begum created Molds from scrunched up paper which she then filled with cement and painted to create depth.

i really like this effect of the scrunched paper as it makes the block feel as though it should be lightweight like paper although it is the complete opposite and would be heavy to hold. She has also painted the blocks in a way which inspires me. To show shadows and to create depth the artist has used a different colour for the shading. However, while normally people would use the same colour in a lighter/ darker tone Begum has used a different colour entirely.

In this picture you can see she has painted the whole block grey then highlighted the darker shadows in a neon orange to stand out, subsequently creating an abstract finish. I also like how none of the blocks are the same which makes the wall really interesting to look at.

This was my last favourite element of the exhibition. This was a large canvas which has spray painted dots all across it.

why do i like this piece of work?

I like this piece of work as there are lots of dots which make the canvas interesting to look at closer. The placement of the dots also inspires me. There is a wide range of colours, and these are located at different areas on the canvas. i can see there are darker tones on the top right corner and the bottom left, then a lighter strip, primarily filled with light tones runs diagonally through the middle. This subsequently creates almost a three-dimensional appearance when looking at the piece as it looks like shadows and highlights.

Another element which I like about this piece is how every dot is layered on each other meaning there are no blank areas. All the dots also blend into each other as the outside is textured and the paint becomes slightly dispersed, compared to the centre of the dots.

Here are some other images of parts from this exhibition.

To me in this exhibition, the main element which stands out to me is how she has contradicted the stereotypes people have about a material. This can be seen how she has created the texture of paper (which Is known for being lightweight and malleable) out of cement (which is known for being heavy and non-malleable), Aswell as creating lightweight, easily manipulated netting out of solid steel. I would like to explore how I can create this contrast in my work.

Another element I like is the shading using a completely different colour instead of a darker/ lighter tone. This could be an interesting idea going forward for my portfolio illustrations.