Critics were divided over Cady Noland’s show at New York’s Gagosian at the end of last year. It was filled with its typical standards of political figures from 20th century history, but it was also filled with a lot of signs and frames that gave one the feeling of being in a very stylish garage. All of these things not only indicated that America had lost its mind, which is its usual thesis, but that it had also lost its way.
Another artist doing good work with similar materials is Rana Begum (b. 1977), whose first institutional exhibition in the United States recently traveled from SCAD in Savannah to Windsor Gallery in Florida. “Reflection” is one of the wonderful titles of the exhibition that makes you look at each work in it from a different angle, even if it is literal. Much of the work tends to be symmetrical in convincing ways or made of the kind of roadworks materials, such as reflective panels, that reward the viewer walking around them, ideally with a contemplative head.
For this reason, I am grateful that the Windsor Gallery took me there to see it in person, which is not the case for most of the exhibitions featured in this column. No. 1272 Chainlink (2023) will be difficult to actually experience. The powder-coated chain stacks on top of each other in a hallucinatory manner, creating an eerie network of diamonds that constantly changes as they cause gaps and colors to intersect.
All of the works in the show were done in the last ten years and look like a very contemporary response to 1970s minimalism. Outside the gallery at Windsor stands the tower No. 1261 T reflective (2023), which is as if Anne Truitt had used bright squares from the back of bicycles instead of paint. In Windsor, these lights capture the sun’s rays during the day and the headlights of golf carts that people use to get around at night. Like the rest of Begum’s work, it works its way into your attention while maintaining a self-righteous dignity that’s not native to Florida.
Begum’s post-minimalism replaces the cold certainty of those early practitioners with a version that is more precise, provisional, and more representative of our times. The show starts with No. 744 litresD (2017), a red-purple wall piece, is one of the few asymmetrical works in the exhibition. Looking at a photo of her now, I can’t be sure it’s asymmetrical, which is probably what Begum wanted. She described it as having a “softness” and “glow” about it, which is both accurate and crazy to say about stainless steel work. It looks like a sheet of origami paper that someone just started working on and then abandoned. Or maybe they decided that four folds were enough.
“Rana Begum: Meditation“On display at the gallery in Windsor until May 8, 2026.
More show reviews
