Past
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Elsewhere
Sandatharaka Abeysinghe 24 Oct - 14 Nov 2024 This October, Saskia Fernando Gallery presents 'Elsewhere' a solo presentation by Sandatharaka Abeysinghe. The artist transports viewers to a fantastical realm where human life is dwarfed by the colossal majesty of towering and lush flora and fauna. Drawing inspiration from Ilya Repin’s Sadko, the series imagines an underwater world where a once-great city, submerged by an ancient deluge, continues to thrive. Read more -
A4A
12 Sep - 3 Oct 2024 Saskia Fernando Gallery announces the presentation of two parallel events this September with the opening of a group exhibition featuring the 2024 A4A (Artists for Artists) Production Fund grantees—Dumiduni Illangasinghe, Mayun Kaluthanthri, and Malinda Jayasinghe. Read more -
UDAYSHANTH & ANGELIKA FERNANDO FOUNDATION FUNDRAISER
12 - 15 Sep 2024 The Udayshanth and Angelika Fernando Foundation will present the third edition of its annual fundraiser on 12.09.24 at Saskia Fernando Gallery. Funds raised will go towards the A4A Production Grant and the Indira Cancer Trust. All works featured in the auction have been donated by leading and emerging contemporary artists from Sri Lanka. Read more -
FAMILIES 'NOT' IN THE LIST
Hema Shironi 15 Aug - 5 Sep 2024 Saskia Fernando Gallery is pleased to present Hema Shironi’s upcoming exhibition Families ‘Not’ in the the List. Shironi’s exploration of home and belonging seamlessly intertwines with her documentation of the changing socio-political landscape.
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META-REAL
Chandraguptha Thenuwara 23 Jul - 13 Aug 2024 This July, Chandraguptha Thenuwara presents his annual memorial exhibition Meta-Real, offering a distant contemplation of the socio-political developments in the decades following the anti-Tamil pogrom and the 1980s JVP insurrection.
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DYSTOPIA
Hashan Cooray 27 Jun - 20 Jul 2024 Saskia Fernando Gallery is pleased to announce Hashan Cooray’s upcoming exhibition ‘Dystopia’. Cooray’s latest body of works encapsulates the essence of an Orwellian dream: where freedom is imaginary, resistance is futile, and individual autonomy is absent. Read more -
Outline
Arjuna Gunarathne 21 May - 18 Jun 2024 Saskia Fernando Gallery is pleased to present Arjuna Gunarathne's upcoming exhibition, Outline. Through an intimate engagement with colour and texture, Gunarathne’s work reveals a private world of anxieties & vulnerabilities where lone figures in imaginary landscapes wait, desiring warmth and familiarity. Read more -
COEXIST
Randika de Silva 25 Apr - 20 May 2024 Saskia Fernando Gallery is pleased to present Randika de Silva’s debut solo exhibition, Coexist. Randika de Silva is a visual artist and designer based in Sri Lanka with an interdisciplinary practice involving drawing, textiles and sculpture. Coexist invites the viewer to contemplate the intricate and complex entanglements of human experiences and emotions. The series explores the dynamic intrapersonal terrain of emotional turmoil, vulnerability, and resilience - the coalescence of interactions therein that moulds each person into a unique individual. Read more
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Swept Away Like Leaves
FIRI RAHMAN 11 Jan - 26 Feb 2024 Saskia Fernando Gallery is pleased to present Firi Rahman's upcoming exhibition Swept Away Like Leaves. Rahman's latest series, wades through ideas of being and belonging as he responds to the experiences of migration and examines the obscure notions of home. Read more -
ELYSIUM
GAYAN PRAGEETH 30 Nov - 30 Dec 2023 Saskia Fernando Gallery is pleased to showcase the latest exhibition by Gayan Prageeth Elysium. This exhibition serves as a profound meditation on the far-reaching implications of ethno-nationalism and cultural imperialism, delving into the complex interplay of identity, heritage, and international dynamics. Intricately constructed images and symbols take on a surrealist form inviting the viewer to contemplate the country’s uncertain future in the face of external influences . Read more -
KAZE NO IRO
Ruwan Prasanna 2 - 27 Nov 2023 Saskia Fernando Gallery is pleased to present Ruwan Prasanna's latest solo exhibition Kaze No Iro [Colours of the Wind]. Read more -
Unspoken
Kanesh Thabendran 19 - 30 Oct 2023 Saskia Fernando Gallery is pleased to present Kanesh Thabendran's first solo show Unspoken. In this series, the artist attempts to present an objective understanding of the relationship between the state and the people in the conflicted affected regions of Sri Lanka through the use of photography, digital manipulation, photo-cutting and collage techniques. Read more
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IMPETUS
Jagath Weerasinghe 31 Aug - 30 Sep 2023 The exhibition presents a selection of works created from 1989 to the first half of the 1990s, created in the years preceding his 1992 Anxiety (Kansawa) show, that locate the themes and ideas that dominate the artist’s three-decade-long year including works that are visual and thematic precursors to his notable series I have got enough guilt to start my own religion, crucify me. Read more -
COVERT
CHANDRAGUPTHA THENUWARA 23 - 31 Jul 2023 A monumental column, Chandraguptha Thenuwara's Covert (2021-23) is composed of intricate and interlocking iron filigree symbols painted black: lotus buds, bodies, barbed wire, thorns, stupas, lion tails, weapons, vehicles. Exhibited at the Venice Biennale last year, it travelled to Colombo's Lionel Wendt Art Gallery in 2023, where a new floor sculpture sprouts out from its base like tree roots. The installation marks Thenuwara's annual memorial show dedicated to Black July, the anti-Tamil pogrom at the start of Sri Lanka's civil war (1983-2009), exactly forty years ago. Read more -
DELUSION
CHANDRAGUPTHA THENUWARA 23 Jul - 23 Aug 2023 Delusion presents Thenuwara’s annual exhibition of new works in response to the sociopolitical climate in Sri Lanka. The exhibition will continue his inquiry into issues of militarism, religious extremism, conspiracy theories, Sinhala chauvinism, narrow-minded nationalism, anti-western agitation, socialism etc. Read more -
A4A FUNDRAISER 2023
30 Jun - 7 Jul 2023 Saskia Fernando Gallery and the Udayshanth Fernando Foundation are pleased to present the second edition of the A4A Fundraiser.
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WITH MY BACK TO THE WORLD
3 Mar - 2 Apr 2023 In celebration of International Women’s Day 2023, Saskia Fernando Gallery brings together works by 12 contemporary female artists from or currently based in Sri Lanka. Read more -
A4A
19 Jan - 11 Feb 2023 Saskia Fernando Gallery in collaboration with Udayshanth Fernando Foundation is pleased to present A4A, a group exhibition by the grantees of the 2021 A4A Production Fund. Read more -
Within Boundaries
Arjuna Gunarathne 15 Dec 2022 - 15 Jan 2023 Within Boundaries by Arjuna Gunarathne presents a walk-through of his ongoing experiments with a distinct and dynamic visual style – one where his acquaintanceship with South Asian mural and miniature painting seeks anchor. Read more -
Prakriti
Nuwan Nalaka 18 Nov - 13 Dec 2022 Saskia Fernando Gallery is pleased to present Nuwan Nalaka's upcoming exhibition Prakriti. In this series of brilliant and scintillating paintings the biological, decorative and symbolic connotations associated with flowers become a deliberation on feminine energy, sexuality and the erotic. Read more
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Lightlines
Kavan Balasuriya 29 Sep - 29 Oct 2022 Saskia Fernando Gallery is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition by Kavan Balasuriya titled Lightlines, where the artist presents geometric abstractions inspired by architecture, textiles, and organic compositions created by tracing the surface of aluminium foil. Read more -
ECCE HOMO
CHANDRAGUPTHA THENUWARA 23 Jul - 23 Aug 2022 Saskia Fernando Gallery is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition by Chandraguptha Thenuwara, Ecce Homo. Read more -
SURVIVAL OF THE FRAGILE
Muvindu Binoy 16 Jun - 16 Jul 2022 Saskia Fernando Gallery is pleased to present 'Survival of the Fragile,' Muvindu Binoy's fifth solo show. Read more -
STILL LIFE | NATURE MORTE
Fabienne Francotte 5 May - 5 Jun 2022 Fabienne Francotte's work looks at what remains in the aftermath of trauma, abuse and migratory displacement. In Nature Morte, she situates the human body as the site of these afflictions. Working with abuse victims, Fabienne created this collection over several years, often informed by her creative workshops. These drawing projects... Read more
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STICK NO BILLS
Hashan Cooray 10 Mar - 10 Apr 2022 In Stick No Bills, Hashan Cooray’s latest body of work, he focuses on a selection of posters stripped from the public walls of Colombo. The sourced images, taken from their original posts, illustrate a critical mixture of politics, consumerism and social critique and eventually make their way to his digital... Read more -
Dreamscape
Chathurika Jayani 20 Jan - 20 Feb 2022 Chathurika Jayani’s Dreamscapes is an exhibition of paintings that consists of heavy set colours and textures depicting a fantastical urban situation. While the artist’s work explores themes of urbanism and city building, she painted structures, which could be described as ahistorical, often referring to the omnipresent and corrugated tiling sheets... Read more -
Aluyama
Ruwan Prasanna 11 Nov - 11 Dec 2021 There is something different about Ruwan Prasanna’s latest exhibition, ‘Aluyama,’ scheduled to launch on the 11th of November at the Saskia Fernando Gallery. Beginning with his Unknown Bird series, as his career has progressed, so has Ruwan Prasanna’s foray into abstraction. Today, he is one of the island’s foremost contemporary... Read more -
Rented Shadow and Neighbours
Hema Shironi 1 Oct - 1 Nov 2021 Hema Shironi's debut showcase at the Saskia Fernando Gallery presents a body of work that delves into the artist’s complex understanding of migration, displacement, and identity. In Rented Shadows and Neighbours, Hema explores her community’s historical and lived experience of colonization and civil war. As a child, her family often... Read more
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BLINDS
Chandraguptha Thenuwara 23 Jul - 20 Aug 2021 Most of us spent more time looking out of the windows of our homes this last year than in any other year. So, it is perhaps no surprise that one of the works in Chandraguptha Thenuwara’s latest exhibition, simply titled Landscape, is a meditation out of the artist’s studio in... Read more -
Day dreamer you are
Abdul Halik Azeez 25 Mar - 22 Apr 2021 Abdul-Halik Azeez’s Day Dreamer You Are is the parsing of a staccato urban told in glass, cement and fabric detritus, but also in skin, sky and water. Here, Azeez shuns the monumental that has come to symbolise the designer megapolises of the future envisioned by the false prophecies of states.... Read more -
Eyes Only
Gayan Prageeth 3 Feb - 3 Mar 2021 Gayan Prageeth’s latest exhibition, titled Eyes Only, revolves around the developments of the development of politics and corruption in Sri Lanka post-war. His thought provoking use of intricate illustrations of destruction and imagery illustrating these stories makes these art pieces distinct and interesting for the viewer. The floating images presented... Read more -
Last Page of the Text Book
Muvindu Binoy 17 Dec 2020 - 14 Jan 2021 Saskia Fernando Gallery is pleased to present Last Page of the Textbook by Muvindu Binoy. Muvindu Binoy is a contemporary artist residing in Sri Lanka. The exhibition includes collage, digital collage and video installation. Read more
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Enclosed
Firi Rahman 12 Nov - 10 Dec 2020 In addition to being a professional artist, Firi Rahman is an animal enthusiast and advocate. In previous showcases at Saskia Fernando Gallery he has highlighted the contentious relationship between humankind and the animal kingdom. His work has questioned the rise of endangered species in Sri Lanka, and has explored the... Read more -
Serendib
Priyantha Udagedara 9 Oct - 6 Nov 2020 An abundance of flora and fauna. A tropical ensemble of a myriad different colours and diverse forms and textures. Creatures of flight in their wingspread splendor; some perched momentarily. Beneath this camouflage, the sailing ships, the water front, colonial masters, ancient weapons and motifs, the fiery sun in its marigold... Read more -
Sansāra
Nuwan Nalaka 28 Aug - 17 Sep 2020 Nuwan Nalaka fills his latest series of paintings with raw energy produced by the ongoing pandemic. In Sansāra, the artist reflects on the sheer amount of suffering and despair currently endured by so many people around the world. Yet he strives to emphasize the collective strength of humanity that has... Read more -
Atmosphere | At/Most/Fear
Chandraguptha Thenuwara 23 Jul - 13 Aug 2020 An activist and artist, Chandraguptha Thenuwara engages his multi disciplinary practice in the investigation of the sociopolitical climate in Sri Lanka. On 23 July 2020 he will present his 22nd ‘Black July’ memorial exhibition, titled ‘Atmosphere | At/most/fear’. The body of work consists of sculptural installation and painting on canvas... Read more
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DESIRE
HASHAN COORAY 19 Jun - 17 Jul 2020 Saskia Fernando Gallery is pleased to announce the new online exhibition by Hashan Cooray titled ‘Desire’. The works, created over the past twelve months, feature drawings and painting across the themes of love, pain, desire and existentialism. The body of work is dominated by abstract self-portraits; an attempt at introspection. Incorporating words referring to God-like beings as well as lewd terminology, the images and writing aims to aggravate the senses leading to a further questioning of one’s own conformity. Read more -
APRIL WORKS: BACKPACKS, BOMBS & BORDERS
Jagath Weerasinghe 21 May - 18 Jun 2020 In this series, created between April/May 2019, Weerasinghe responds to the Easter Attacks that occurred in Sri Lanka. In Los Angeles during this time, Weerasinghe began a smaller series of work on paper and installation in response to news of the attacks, he later continued the series during his residency... Read more -
ART in CURFEW
CHANDRAGUPTHA THENUWARA, FABIENNE FRANCOTTE, FIRI RAHMAN, MUVINDU BINOY, NUWAN NALAKA AND PAKKIYARAJAH PUSHPAKANTHAN 1 - 30 Apr 2020 ART in CURFEW is a series created in quarantine by SFG artists. These works are being processed in an enforced quietude and many are a response to the pandemic. Accompanying the series is a calendar of instagram live stream OPEN STUDIOS of artists working in isolation whereby they spend one... Read more -
YEN
KINGSLEY GUNATILLAKE 26 Mar - 16 Apr 2020 Titled Yen , these paintings mark a return to a subject that sits at the core of Kingsley Gunatillake's oeuvre. Using forms and lines from his live nude studies juxtaposed by the artist’s textural, abstract painting technique; these works are an homage to his prolific practice. The title hints at... Read more
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I Don't Know But I Remember
Fabienne Francotte 20 Feb - 20 Mar 2020 I Don’t Know But I Remember presents pages of Fabienne Francotte's diaries recorded during her first years in Sri Lanka from 2016. By cathartically removing each page from within her books the artist creates a chronological visualisation of time, both interconnected and disconnected via its narrative. The images are a... Read more -
Wounded Landscape
Pakkiyarajah Pushpakanthan 10 - 31 Oct 2019 Pakkiyarajah Pushpakanthan was born in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts of the University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka and is a Lecturer in the Department of Visual and Technological Arts at the Swami Vipulananda Institute for Aesthetic Studies, Eastern University, Sri Lanka. Pushpakanthan’s practice predominantly consists... Read more -
God is a Mesh
Muvindu Binoy 13 Sep - 2 Oct 2019 Muvindu Binoy is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice involves digital collage and film. As a digital artist, Binoy observes his personal outlook, exploring terms of gender, agency, title and the expectation of traditional values contradicted by modern-emancipated standards of the digital age. ‘God is a mesh’ is a play on... Read more -
M.O.B.
Chandraguptha Thenuwara 13 Aug - 23 Sep 2019 What is happening around us? Following the end of a 27 year long war instead of establishing a peace building process by returning occupied land and removing camps, there are individuals and groups looking for the enemey. The June 2014 riots in Dharga town were a clear incident of this... Read more
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Being the Other
Fabienne Francotte 20 Jun - 11 Jul 2019 Fabienne Francotte’s ‘Being the Other’ maps junctures of shared trauma communicated through wordless intimacies experienced by the artist as she was invited to Bangladesh. Following traces of bodies once whole, now violently contorted, Francotte inquires about what responsibility we have toward the visible or even the partially visible. The empty... Read more -
Crossing Place, Baik Art Los Angeles
Jagath Weerasinghe, Pakkiyarajah Pushpakanthan, Saskia Pinetelon, Priyantha Udagedara, Chandraguptha Thenuwera 20 Apr - 1 Jun 2019 When contemporary art from South East Asia enjoys increasing global attention, Baik Art is pleased to present Crossing Place, a unique exploration of contemporary art from Sri Lanka. The exhibition, mounted in collaboration with Saskia Fernando Gallery in Colombo, highlights works by renown Sri Lankan artists Jagath Weerasinghe, Saskia Pintelon,... Read more -
Parahuman
Hashan Cooray 5 Apr - 2 May 2019 For decades, we have been classified under the genetic profile ‘Homo sapiens sapiens’. With the inheritance of prime essence from our ancestors, we have forged the world around us according to our likenesses. The world is evolving. And so are we. The rules of nature apply to all-things-physical. Are we... Read more -
Postcards From Home
Cresside Collette 15 Feb - 7 Mar 2019 “Postcards from Home”- a series of small woven tapestries that explore the notion of ‘home’ to an artist born in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and transplanted to Australia at the age of 11. Why is it that our earliest influences remain so potent in our lives? Everything that touches our senses... Read more
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In-Between
Kingsley Gunatillake 24 Jan - 7 Feb 2019 My expression is to visualize the moment prior to the confrontation of dual images of uncertainty and contradiction. My exercise is to use these images and structures, which take different modifications at times from hard and rough to soft and delicate. My joy is to let this process take place... Read more -
Sub-Marine
Chudamani Clowes 12 Dec 2018 - 14 Jan 2019 The blue surface of the water glistens with possibilities. It reflects an image of our precious hectic lives. Submerged and sub-marine, the ocean is teaming with life. Migratory activity is in perpetual motion in a wondrous saline garden. In my title Sub-marine I wish to render visible those issues that... Read more -
Belief: The Promise of Absence
Jagath Weerasinghe 16 Nov - 6 Dec 2018 The works in this show, as usual, are about social calamities and personal pains. Currently the world is experiencing a major civilizational crisis played out as mass migration - millions of people are forced to leave behind their “lives” and “memories”. These works are trying to take an intimate engagement... Read more -
Executive Demon and Other Works
Chandraguptha Thenuwara 24 Jul - 14 Aug 2018 Executive Demon and Other Works presents a new body of work by Chandraguptha Thenuwara consisting of his political commentary in the form of sculptural installation discussing effects of the Executive Presidency on Sri Lanka. The artist exclaims, ‘While the talk of abolition of power continues there is no change. Getting... Read more
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Island Mentality
Muvindu Binoy, Hashan Cooray, Pramith Geekiyange, Firi Rahman and Kanesh Thabendran 29 Jun - 14 Jul 2018 Island mentality refers to the notion of isolated communities perceiving themselves as exceptional or superior to the rest of the world. This term does not directly refer to a geographically confined society, but to the cultural, moral, or ideological superiority of a community lacking social exposure. As an island moved... Read more -
Being and Becoming
CURATED BY T.SHANAATHANAN 4 - 11 May 2018 This exhibition brings together the work of ten artists who graduated from Jaffna University in 2016. The exhibition emerged from a year-long discussion with each of the artists about the process and questions that surround working as an artist after the security and structure of the academy are no longer... Read more -
Wanantharaya
Prageeth Manohansa 6 - 27 Apr 2018 Prageeth Manohansa’s work characteristically follows the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, anintuitive way of living that emphasizes finding beauty in imperfection, and accepting the natural cycle of growth and decay. The artist’s work is multidisciplinary and highlighted by his focus on figurative compositions made from scrap metal and found objects collected... Read more -
Stories Within
Mahen Perera 16 Mar - 5 Apr 2018 Mahen Perera’s paintings-as sculpture-as-paintings contain subtle yet sustained moments of untheatrical anarchy. His works are dramatic, but they do not function on the same wave-length as a tragic life event that suddenly destabilizes ones guiding constants and frameworks. Although there is destabilization, Mahen’s works are quieter: like a passing comment... Read more
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It's Like Someone Took My Soul
Fabienne Francotte 16 Feb - 8 Mar 2018 “Let me tell you how I draw. Late at night. No light. Eyes wide open. Straight to the point. Like a cat!” Belgium-born artist Fabienne Francotte’s practice began 17 years ago while studying calligraphy. The careful composition of writing demanded a strict, ritualistic approach built on strong gesture and balance.... Read more -
Return to Lunuganga
Saskia Pintelon 10 Dec 2017 - 28 Jan 2018 Can abstract art be representational and non-representational? With regard to Saskia Pintelon’s oeuvre who is known for chronicling, life and death and everything in between and who is known as a figurative artist the answer to this question is yes. Her work sometimes veers towards abstraction and in Pintelon’s decade-long... Read more -
Orientalism
Priyantha Udagedara 8 Dec 2017 - 6 Jan 2018 Priyantha Udagedara’s exhibition “Orientalism” involves the viewer in a type of performative exchange “to unearth -and concurrently interpret- what is beneath the deception of the exoticism in brazen display.”(1) To fully realize the significance of this body of work however requires us to look back at Priyantha’s last two exhibitions:... Read more -
Lab Rats
Hashan Cooray 23 Nov - 6 Dec 2017 The subject of social trauma stands inter-dependently with the subordinate entities of the society itself. We play the role of a lab rat in our day to day existence; at times, full filing the desires of a third party or rather fulfilling our own agendas. We exist in a system... Read more
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Apperceiving 1983
Gayan Prageeth 16 Nov - 6 Dec 2017 As Sri Lanka begins to rebuild itself and attempts at reconciliation begin to take shape, the exhibition “Apperceiving 1983” looks back at the events that transpired between the people of Sri Lanka and the violent effect it had on numerous lives, memories and futures. This show works as a continuation... Read more -
Coast and Concrete
Abdul Halik Azeez & Raki Nikahetiya 26 Oct - 15 Nov 2017 Where is Sri Lanka heading? The country’s post-war transition causes us to question and re-evaluate ancient traditions in a digital age and caste system in the age of equality. What does it mean to be “local” in the face of a globalised world? C oast and Concrete brings together the... Read more -
Sutra
Nuwan Nalaka 12 - 26 Oct 2017 The Lotus Sutra, a scripture that is often considered to be one of the most important in the path to enlightment, teaches how even deluded people will follow this path. The lotus symbolizes the bodhisattva who is rooted in the earthly mud and yet flowers above the water in the... Read more -
Disappearance
Pakkiyarajah Pushpakanthan 31 Aug - 15 Sep 2017 Most of my creations depict experiences and discourses that have tragedy as the underpinning, all-consuming theme. Rather than the healthy and pleasant events in life and in society, incidents of intense hurt and screaming, physical and mental suffering compel me more. My creations express themselves as the psychological analyses of... Read more
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Glitch +
Chandraguptha Thenuwara 22 Jul - 13 Aug 2017 Black July took place 34 years ago. The war was over 8 years ago. Tyranny was defeated 2 ½ years ago. Democracy was then established and today we have no white vans, no abductions and no threats to life by politicians and their entourage. No surveillance, no CID or other... Read more -
Komorebi
Ruwan Prasanna 23 May - 23 Jun 2017 Between the world and the word are three small shapes, the signs for ‘‘tree,’’ ‘‘escape,’’ and ‘‘sun.’’ I watch how the light leaks through them, casting a shade in both directions… An extract from ‘Komorebi’ by Caitriona O’Reilly Illustrating the word Komorebi, translated from Japanese as the light shining through... Read more -
Emergency | A Group Show
Nadia de Los Santos, Hanusha Somasunderam and Mika Tennekoon 16 - 31 Mar 2017 We have observed a strong emergence of young artists working in diverse mediums in the past five years. Their backgrounds vary from design fields, universities across the island and expatriates whom have made Sri Lanka their home. The works of these three female artists hold at it’s core the practice... Read more -
Self Portraits
CURATED BY T. SHANAATHANAN 26 Jan - 9 Feb 2017 New material possibilities available to contemporary artists have opened up a range of new approaches, practices and choices. The activities of artists’ networks, art museums, private galleries, biennales and art fairs have become influential in shaping contemporary art discourse. This has led to the rethinking of modern and pre-modern art... Read more
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The Surreal Body
Rajni Perera 22 Dec 2016 - 20 Jan 2017 In this new body of work, identity politics and the ongoing interest in the embellished photography medium make way for the coloured body to inhabit surreal space. While costume and background remain in the picture as a mode of identity-making, or identity supplanting, there also emerges a new space where... Read more -
I am me
Saskia Pintelon 22 Nov - 20 Dec 2016 Belgian artist Saskia Pintelon’s solo exhibition at SFG consists of works from two series, small mixed media-collages and large mixed-media collages. The smaller works are part of an ongoing project whereby the artist revisits her own work in the published, printed leporello ‘The Book of Faces’ whereby Pintelon customizes... Read more -
Afterlife
Cassie Machado 27 Oct - 20 Nov 2016 Afterlife (2011-2016) is a body of work, which reflects on the final stages of the Sri Lankan civil war, and is a meditation on its trauma and its memory. As well as implying an engagement with the afterlife of events and of images the title Afterlife is inspired by the... Read more -
Since 1983
Gayan Prageeth 6 - 25 Oct 2016 The racial conflict that commenced on July 23,1983, is commonly known as Black July. During these riots, Tamils were identified by their pronunciation. Various methods were used for this purpose. They were shown a bucket and asked what it is, Tamils finding it difficult to pronounce “Baldiya” pronouncing it “Waldiya”.... Read more
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Symmetry
Pramith Geekiyange 14 - 30 Sep 2016 Symmetry presents a body of work by Pramith Geekiyanage that places emphasis on the visual aesthetic of space and colour. Geekiyanage completed his university degree at the University of Visual and Performing Arts in 2008 and has participated in numerous group shows in Sri Lanka. In his early work he... Read more -
Glitch
Chandraguptha Thenuwara 23 Jul - 20 Aug 2016 In 1983, thirty three years ago, an organized mob led pogrom to humiliate minority Tamils living in Colombo and the south of Sri Lanka in revenge for the killing of 13 soldiers in Jaffna by the LTTE led to this moment in time in our history being referred to as... Read more -
With or without meaning
Jagath Weerasinghe 30 Jun - 22 Jul 2016 With or Without Meaning combines Jagath Weerasinghe’s painting, drawing and installation work as a philosophical expression of the transitory nature of being. In perhaps his least political works to date the series combines narratives of tradition, social norms and most of all change. The relevance of each work from their... Read more -
Divine Thru
Muvindu Binoy 28 Apr - 19 May 2016 Muvindu Binoy’s work is a combination of his generational outlook combined with his influences of filmography and the captured image. In this, his second consecutive solo exhibition, Binoy continues to observe imagery of religion, consumerism and Generation Y. His collage work combines imagery taken from both vintage and contemporary culture,... Read more
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Prediction Extinction
Firi Rahman 31 Mar - 2 Apr 2016 Firi Rahman’s body of work consists entirely of hyperrealist drawings. He held his first solo exhibition at Saskia Fernando Gallery in 2015 after which his work was featured in Colomboscope - Shadow Scenes, a visual art exhibition curated by Natasha Ginwala and Menike Van der Poorten. He was thereafter invited... Read more -
Herbal Garden
Priyantha Udagedara 17 Dec 2015 - 13 Jan 2016 Herbs are an essential feature of people’s lives in romance, religion, health and superstition. Grown in gardens for millenniums, herbs were often used for medical and erotic purposes in massage. Today the exotic flora and medicinal herbs found on hoardings, name boards, and other advertising material across the Sri Lankan... Read more -
The Embellished Lens
Rajni Perera 28 Aug - 25 Sep 2015 MAHARAJAS The series Maharajas, which is accompanied by an audio interview per portrait, explores the workings of contemporary masculinity, the blurring line of gender involved in male representation, and each subject’s view on these issues. These views may or may not be represented in their respective portraits. There is an... Read more -
I Dream of Water
Nadia Haji Omar 21 Aug - 10 Sep 2015 My work is deeply connected to my dreams; the imagery almost always stems from a specific dream or vision. I frequently dream of water, of several possible water-related scenarios at least once if not multiple times. I believe this is connected to my childhood in Sri Lanka: an island where... Read more
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Unconventional Beauty
Firi Rahman 24 Jul - 21 Aug 2015 Firi Rahman’s series of hyperrealistic portraits focus on the unexpected and unusual, playing with additional elements that attempt to overexpose natural beauty. A new entry into the local art scene, Rahman is a selftaught and incredibly skilled draughtsman. This, his first show will feature a series of fifteen drawings on... Read more -
Seven Conversations
Curated by Sharmini Pereira and T. Shanaathanan 10 - 24 Jul 2015 SEVERAL QUESTIONS AND SEVEN CONVERSATIONS What does it mean to be a practicing contemporary artist? Beyond motivation, techniques, influences and intention what else is involved? To be an artist today involves sustaining a practice where you are actively involved in the process of art making. Though this sounds straightforward it... Read more -
Three Oceans Project
Scott Gardiner 8 May - 5 Jun 2015 The Three Oceans Project has developed on the back of two exhibitions Yield Point and Hold Back that explored humanities often strained relationship with the natural world. Rather than a call to arms or a vehement political statement these exhibitions attempted to instigate an inquiry on mortality, a subtle musing... Read more -
Extravagance
Gayan Prageeth 28 Mar - 25 Apr 2015 After over a year of preparation, Prageeth presents a series of ten paintings contemplating Sri Lanka's previous ruling regime. The artist defends the exhibitions timing and reiterates that the country's recent shift in power is purely coincidental. This series is a continuation of the artist's focus on Sri Lankan politics,... Read more
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The Holy Merchandise
Muvindu Binoy 21 Mar - 18 Apr 2015 The concept of baby boomers as one might be aware is the generation born during Post World War II. I am not against them, but I disapprove of their misconception of the new youth. Sometimes it is hard to explain how we might find mental freedom within a gigabyte or... Read more -
Chandraguptha Thenuwara
Chandraguptha Thenuwara 30 Jan - 27 Feb 2015 Artist cum activist Chandraguptha Thenuwara has staged a self-curated exhibition at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery annually since 2006. The series of works he began creating in response to the change in the cityscape of Colombo during the war began in 1997 with his Barrelism series; in reference to barrels... Read more -
Dis/Placement
T. Shanaathanan 19 Dec 2014 - 19 Jan 2015 My art teachers showed me how to draw a straight line. They also trained me to compose a ‘full view’ of an image at the center of the plane by leaving the required background or breathing space around it. They told me that when we draw we are making the... Read more -
For Sale
Poornima Jayasinghe 2 Dec 2014 - 2 Jan 2015 Pettah is the largest commercial hub in Sri Lanka. Located in Colombo, an array of consumers, goods and traders are connected in a rapidly changing environment filled with a wide gamut of characters and social backgrounds. Over the course of two years I have visited Pettah for various art projects.... Read more
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Priyantha Udagedara
Priyantha Udagedara 13 Nov - 13 Dec 2014 Sri Lanka has long been represented as a paradise on earth. The notion of the island as paradisiacal dates back at least to Horace Walpole’s 1754 letter coining the term ‘serendipity’, from Serendib, an old word for this tropical island. Thus, Sri Lanka became associated with good fortune and the... Read more -
COLOMBEDOUIN
Abdul-Halik Azeez 23 Oct - 23 Nov 2014 At a time when minorities are continuing to be oppressed in an island that not too long ago emerged from a 30 year war, Abdul-Halik Azeez, better known as Halik, has become a representative of his ethnic background. Born in Nawalapitiya in the island’s Central Province, Halik completed his Masters... Read more -
Drawing Series
Chandraguptha Thenuwara 23 Jul - 23 Aug 2014 Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries,... Read more -
Decorated & Emergency at Breese Little Gallery
JAGATH WEERASINGHE, SUJEEWA KUMARI, PRIYANTHA UDAGEDARA, NADIA HAJI OMAR & PRAGEETH MANOHANSA 29 May - 28 Jun 2014 BREESE LITTLE, London, and Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo, are delighted to present Decorated and Emergency, two exhibitions of contemporary Sri Lankan artists. Decorated is established artist Jagath Weerasinghe’s first UK solo show, accompanied by an exhibition of four emerging and midcareer artists in the first floor gallery, Sujeewa Kumari, Nadia... Read more
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Kurutu
Yohan Medhanka 20 May - 17 Jun 2014 The word kurutu means scribbles in Sinhala. Scribbling is considered as a worthless chaotic form of art according to institutions and their teachings. The medium I have used in this exhibition are pen and correction fluid, also known as Tipex. I was recreating my process of vandalizing the desks when... Read more -
Landscapes
Ruwan Prasanna 23 Apr - 23 May 2014 View the E - Catalogue Read more -
Chromatic
Prageeth Manohansa 28 Mar - 15 May 2014 Prageeth Manohansa is most recognized and followed for his assembled figurative works made from rusted scrap metal parts, but his the sketches on paper depict the same fluidity and motion that brings his sketched figures to life. The monotone nature and the sculptures’ changing texture have become Manohansa’s identity. The... Read more -
Northern Dreams
Yohan Medhanka 13 Jun - 4 Jul 2013 View the E-Catalogue Read more
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Temporary Permanance XVA Gallery Dubai
Sujeewa Kumari, Prageeth Manohansa, Nadia Haji Omar, Jagath Ravindra, Mika Tennekoon and Anup Vega 14 May - 28 Jun 2013 View the E - Catalogue Read more -
Home
Mika Tennekoon 15 - 29 Jan 2013 In her debut solo exhibition, Colombo artist Mika Tennekoon unveils a dozen suitcase installations exploring movement, belonging and conceptions of ‘home’ - as starting point, destination, or even an absence. With humour and vivacity as well as longing and bleakness, her work frames expats, war-victims, workers, the aging, the devout... Read more -
Gods of Metal
Prageeth Manohansa 9 Nov - 29 Dec 2012 In gods of metal, Prageeth Manohansa presents the age-old contrast of industrialized culture versus utopian nature in new form. An incisive sculptor, Prageeth transforms banal scrap metal into stunning images of life and beauty. His sculptural pieces breathe with movement and emotion, and he captures this same dynamic spirit on... Read more -
Fragments Of The Ordinary
Daniel Valentin 1 - 7 Nov 2012 My time in Sri Lanka has revealed an entirely new world to me, a visual journey filled with moments of awe and wonder. My goal with this body of work is to invite the viewer to enter this world, to share those moments with me, and perhaps, through these images,... Read more
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Drawings
Chandraguptha Thenuwara & Jagath Weerasinghe 2 - 30 Oct 2012 Drawings takes place as a dual exhibition of drawings by Chandraguptha Thenuwara and Jagath Weerasinghe, staged simultaneously in London and Colombo. Thenuwara and Weerasinghe are among Sri Lanka’s foremost artists. Their artistic dialogue spans the last three decades - key years spent bolstering the emergence and grounding of the country’s... Read more -
Mediated
Asvajit Boyle, Ameena Hussein, Iromi Perera, Mika Tennekoon, Asanga Welikala, Jagath Weerasinghe, Anushka Wijesinha, Sunela Jayawardena 23 Aug - 15 Sep 2012 Four individuals – a researcher, an economist, a constitutional theorist and an award winning novelist – were invited to give submissions that were anchored to issues vital to a greater and deeper social and political understanding of Sri Lanka today. Four artists were invited to engage with this primary resource... Read more -
Deliverance
Anoma Wijewardene 12 Jun - 17 Jul 2012 This exhibit is the culmination of years of anxiety over our disappearing world; a concern which has expressed itself in many ways, either overtly or covertly, through my paintings. Our planet is being irreversibly damaged due to climate change. The main culprit of this is us – humans. We extract... Read more -
Faces and New Work
Saskia Pintelon | SFG and Paradise Road Galleries 26 Jan - 26 Feb 2012 A singular, sensible way to question the world we live in? A way to ask for forgiveness in a painting? Embroidering to expunge the hurt Inflicted? Exorcising one’s own fears ? Can a painting be an ode to love just like a a song or alternatively a path in a... Read more
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Kaputa
Mika Tennekoon & Prageeth Manohansa 18 Jan - 18 Feb 2012 In the public spaces and some generally closed areas the Saskia Fernando Gallery has curated an exhibition for the past two years and now for the third year running a two man show featuring a young illustrator and sculpture will be staged. Prageeth Manohansa is a name that has become... Read more -
Mismatches
T.Shaanathanan 1 - 27 Dec 2011 T.Shaanathanan's work entitled Mismatches (2011) is comprised of a series of 9 paintings that take the form of a jigsaw. 'The mismatch between one story and another can also be seen as the location of new found being and a space of becoming.' say T.Shaanathanan. 'In these particular works I... Read more -
Pilgrimage Overland
Anup Vega 20 Oct - 11 Nov 2011 ‘Pilgrimage overland; crossing the conventional boundaries between art and life.’ Anup Vega Born in 1967 in Kurunegala, Anup Vega, like most artists, began drawing at an early age. Unlike most, art was simply habitual enjoyment for him; his inspiration was untainted by the theories and art movements of any syllabus... Read more -
Sri Lankan. Contemporary. Female.
ANOMA WIJEWARDENE, SUJEEWA KUMARI & NADIA HAJI OMAR 9 - 11 Jun 2011 An exhibition of three artists from three generations. View the E-Catalogue Read more
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Contemporary Art from Sri Lanka 2011
Muhanned Cader Druvinka Kingsley Gunatillake Vajira Gunawardene Dumith Kulasekara Sanjeewa Kumara Sujeewa Kumari Prageeth Manohansa Pala Pothupitiye Saskia Pintelon Jagath Ravindra Tilak Samarawickrema Chandraguptha Thenuwara Jagath Weerasinghe Anoma Wije 1 - 12 Mar 2011 Writing on contemporary Sri Lankan art at this ‘moment’ in history is difficult. It seems that most of the artists that made the last decades of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century, both young and not-so-young, have begun to prowl around once again for new... Read more -
Script
Anoma Wijewardena, Saskia Pintelon, Tilak Samawawickrema, Kingsley Gunatillake, Chandraguptha Thenuwara, Jagath Ravindra and Prageeth Manohansa 26 Jan - 20 Feb 2011 An exibition of artwork inspired by contemporary poetry and writings. View the E - Catalogue Read more -
Katugaha & Mythical Landscapes
Pala Pothupitiye 16 - 30 Jan 2011 Saskia Fernando Gallery presents a solo exhibition of new work by Pala Pothupitiye. The exhibition titled ‘Katugaha & Mythical Landscapes’ includes canvas works and sculpture by the young Sri Lankan artist. Over the last few years Pala has become one of Sri Lanka’s foremost young artists, his most recent achievement... Read more -
The Symbolical Impossibility of Disavowing Trauma
Dumith Kulasekara 1 - 20 Jan 2011 I present to you this exhibition after nearly three years of my first solo show Trauma, is called The Symbolical Impossibility of Disavowing Trauma. As I have earlier stated in my catalogue from Trauma, I hope to shock my viewer into rethinking about what it is that makes people human:... Read more
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Preliminaries
Prageeth Manohansa 11 Nov 2010 - 24 Nov 2011 Sketches by Prageeth Manohansa View the E-Catalogue Read more -
Prageeth Manohansa
Amangalle 29 Jan - 28 Feb 2010 An exhibition of sculpture by artist Prageeth Manohansa was presented at the Amangalle hotel in Galle during the Literary Festival 2010. The exhibition featured works placed throughout the property, in the gardens and lobbies of the rennovated New Oriental Hotel. → Read more Read more -
Mumbai Mutai
Muhanned Cader 8 - 22 Jan 2010 I. “The forms in my work are usually always abstracted from close observation of things around me” Muhanned Cader is an observer of certain things not all things. What he edits out of his work is as relevant as what remains. The affinity of one seemingly unrelated thing to another... Read more -
Closet Artists
Mia Bastrup & Layla 18 Oct - 8 Nov 2009 An Exhibition of Collage & Sculpture by Mia Bastrup & Layla View the E-Catalogue Read more
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A Retrospective
Chandraguptha Thenuwara 23 Jul - 6 Aug 2009 View the E - Catalogue Read more -
Shiva Natarajah
Jagath Weerasinghe 24 - 30 Apr 2009 An artist and an academic, he is often conflicted by his drive to be both. He received his MFA from the American University in Washington DC, USA, he heads the renowned artists collective, Theertha and lectures at the Postgraduate Institute of Archeology and the University of Kelaniya. His paintings belong... Read more -
Saskia Pintelon
Ena De Silva House Exhibition 12 Jan 2009 The last exhibition presented by Saskia Pintelon in her former residence, the Ena de Silva house, designed by the late Geoffrey Bawa for the designer and later rented by Saskia Pintelon and her husband as their residence in Colombo. The house was also the location of the artist's studio for... Read more
