Elsewhere: Sandatharaka Abeysinghe

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.

 

In Elsewhere, the artist explores new visual trajectories, experimenting with oil paints to create a hyper-realistic, scintillating world brimming with tropical colours. Abeysinghe demonstrates a remarkable command of oil paints, utilising its inherent properties and versatility to create immersive visuals. The indiscernible softness of petals and stems and the animated movements of flora and fauna in Abeysinghe’s visuals are achieved through the interplay of depth and texture, inviting the viewer to experience tactility through sight alone. A subtle manipulation of light amplifies this sensory engagement as the soft illumination and ethereal glow enhances the otherworldly quality of the underwater scape. Abeysinghe conjures a realm of wonder, where the natural world is rendered with precision and imbued with a sense of the sublime.