Rana Begum Artists Buttons
Rana Begum
Buttons, 2023
Porcelain, in three colour variations
Button dimension 30 x 30mm
Set of Four, in an edition of 30
The button(s) have been hand sewn onto an A5 cards. Each card is numbered, dated and signed by the artist and presented in a bespoke box designed by A Practice for Everyday Life.
Rana Begum’s beautiful two-toned porcelain buttons are characteristic of her interest in colour and material. Working with ceramics for the first time, Begum has developed an original button shape by moulding wet clay. The pastel yellow, green and pink colours are based on a series of cement floor tiles which Begum created during a residency in the Philippines. These cement tiles were arranged to create geometric patterns, using repetition and modularity to explore the idea of the infinite.
Revisiting these ideas in miniature form, Begum has created functional, wearable objects that have the appearance of small-scale sculptures. Individually handmade in a process involving over ten stages, the buttons are true to the medium of ceramics with every button becoming a unique work. Begum has arranged the buttons into different patterns so that each card takes on a special character of its own.
Rana Begum’s wide-ranging practice encompasses sculpture, drawing, painting and the public realm. Her artistic language is inspired by urban life in London and memories of her childhood in Bangladesh, recalling the geometric patterns of traditional Islamic art and architecture and the fall of changing light.
About the Artists Buttons project
Ten leading artists, Ai Weiwei, Jonathan Anderson, Rana Begum, Edmund de Waal, Antony Gormley, Callum Innes, Jennifer Lee, Cornelia Parker, Vicken Parsons & Caroline Walker, have been creating limited edition sets of buttons in support of Kettle’s Yard.
The project draws inspiration from the exhibition, ‘Lucie Rie: The Adventure of Pottery’, recently at Kettle’s Yard and from 14 July 2023 – 7 January 2024 at the Holburne Museum in Bath. In 1938, Lucie Rie fled her home in Vienna for London to escape the Nazi persecution of Jewish people. During the war, unable to get a licence to make pots, Rie turned to making ceramic buttons for the fashion industry, experimenting on a miniature scale with new forms and coloured glazes.
Read more about the Artist Buttons project on the Kettle’s Yard blog
Please note purchases of Artists Buttons per customer must not exceed £8,500. Any order exceeding £8,500 will not be processed.
