Curated by Dr Cliff Lauson, Dappled Light will open to the public on 26 February, from 6-9pm, and will run until 22 March 2023

Celebrating five years of its multidisciplinary space Concrete, Alserkal Avenue is presenting a rare solo presentation of work by visual artist Rana Begum. This will be the artist’s largest solo exhibition in the region to date and will include works that have not been shown in the region before.

Rana’s work will explore the interaction of light, colour and form in dialogue with OMA’s Concrete, responding to the building’s architectural conversation with light and form, captured in its minimalist lines.

Works of note will include No. 1228 Mesh (2023) a large-scale suspended mesh ‘cloud’, and No. 1079 Painting Large (MG) (2021), a ten-metre-wide colour-field canvas.

Several wall-based works use different materials and forms to reveal the interplay of light and space, while others, including No. 1227 Net (2023) and No. 1229 Wall Drawing (2023), will be site-specific installations, responding to the architecture around them.

Also included is No. 1080 Forest (MG) (2021), the artist’s first video installation, a time-lapse study of natural light as it falls through the forest canopy. No. 694 Hyetal (2016) is her only work to combine artificial illumination and movement in a dynamic interplay, after having been recently included in Uncombed, Unforseen, Unconstrained, an exhibition presented alongside last year’s Venice Biennale.

The exhibition is also set to feature a striking outdoor commission in the yard, the latest iteration of the artist’s sculptural compositions comprising colourful tessellated mesh panels.

“This show means a lot to me, bringing together the varying strands of my work in a narrative that continues to inform and push my practice,” says Rana.

“In each touring location, Dappled Light has transformed to create a new experience, a new narrative. I am so excited to bring it to Concrete and see how it responds to the vast architecture. The geometric brutalism reflects my exploration into urban form while providing a stark backdrop to the more nebulous surfaces of colour and soft, dappled light.”

Curated by Dr Cliff Lauson, Dappled Light will open to the public on 26 February, from 6-9pm, and will run until 22 March 2023

Lead image courtesy of @ranabegumstudio