Rana Begum captures the sun with chain-link fencing at Desert X

Rana Begum is best known for her intricate installations and wall sculptures, often made from industrial materials. Her standout work in Desert X captures the Californian sun using yellow, chain-link fencing.

Rana Begum’s HENI Score, which is based on media attention and market sentiment, increased an impressive 105%, with the unveiling of large-scale works at Desert X in Southern California and Dubai. To follow the artist, check out her HENI News Dashboard.

For Desert X in the Coachella Valley, Begum created an installation using yellow industrial fencing called simply No.1225 Chainlink (2023). For Dubai's Alserkal Avenue she reprised Dappled Light (2022), a large-scale work of cloud-like forms made from colored mesh created initially for her solo show at Pitshanger, a historic art museum house in London.

In the past she has used colored fishing netting, woven baskets and safety reflectors for large and small-scale works, which have been described as minimalist abstraction. For example, she created No. 814 (2018), an installation using six, free standing panels of plain, colored glass for Frieze Sculpture in London.

For her largest site-specific commissions so far, Begum transformed a row of beach huts on the South coast of England. She transformed the huts into a continous stretch of bright geometric chevron patterns for No. 1054 Arpeggio (2021), a site-specific work in the Folkestone Triennial.

The London-based artist, who spent her early childhood in Bangladesh, was elected a Royal Academician in 2019 while still in her 40s.

Few of her works have appeared at auction so far but in 2021 her large, geometric wall-mounted sculpture No. 387 L Fold (2013) sold for $39,600 at Saffron Art, India. Begum is represented by The Third Line, Jhaveri Contemporary, Kate MacGarry, and Galerie Christian Lethert.