Rana Begum Curates: Opposing Forms
[ Exhibition )
Buy Tickets >17 May until 2 November 2025
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Hitchens often used a horizontal format for his pictures, like a long rectangle that is formed of a double cube. This format allowed him to develop a complex, flowing rhythm of movement and counter movements across the canvas. It encouraged the viewer’s eye to range freely over the image. Landscape paintings are traditionally horizontal, rather than upright as the shape makes the viewer’s eye move across the canvas like looking across the landscape.
An exhibition of works from the Gallery’s collection will be shown alongside invited contemporary artists in the Gallery’s Queen Anne townhouse.
An exhibition of works from the Gallery’s collection will be shown alongside invited contemporary artists in the Gallery’s Queen Anne townhouse and No.1367 Mesh (2024), Begum’s site-specific staircase commission.
Rana Begum’s own work distils spatial and visual experience into ordered form. Through her refined language of Minimalist abstraction, Begum blurs the boundaries between sculpture, painting and architecture. Begum brings this approach to her curated selection, using the architectural context of the historic townhouse as a guide through which to explore the Gallery’s collection.
The exhibition includes artists from our collection, ranging from Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson to Tess Jaray and Rachel Whiteread. Alongside them, Begum has included artworks by invited artists Gillies Adamson Semple, Mary Hurrell, Zara Ramsay and Asha Vaidyanath.
I’ve loved exploring Pallant House Gallery’s collection and thinking about how it resonates with my own practice and contemporary artists I admire. I wanted to create something that celebrates the joy of and draws connections between movement and colour, the melodic visual language and the rhythmic quality of mark-making, pattern, form, colour and light.
Rana Begum
Bio - Rana Begum RA
Born in Bangladesh in 1977, Rana Begum lives and works in London. In 1999, Begum graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art and Design and, in 2002, gained an MFA in Painting from Slade School of Fine Art. Begum’s work distils spatial and visual experience into ordered form. She draws inspiration from urban landscapes and traditional Islamic art, using light as a fundamental medium to create immersive visual experiences. Through her refined language of Minimalist abstraction, Begum blurs the boundaries between sculpture, painting and architecture.
Rana Begum told us: “I’m excited to have the opportunity to engage with the staircase’s architecture and consider how the function of the space will change the experience of my work. I love how it enables a natural flow around the artwork, allowing it to be perceived from all sides. I’m drawn to the focal window and the abundance of natural light – it feels almost church-like.”
“I’m interested in making colour feel tangible, giving it a physicality that accentuates how one tone interacts with another… it’s always important that the relationship between colour, geometry and texture creates a feeling of calm and tranquillity. I am fascinated by this duality – how the experience of exhilaration and meditation can coexist.”
“By bringing the relationship between form, colour and light into focus, I hope my work can extend beyond a gallery context and encourage the viewer to become more attuned to their everyday surroundings, more sensitive to the varying ways these three elements interact and the moments when they align to create something beautiful.”
