Artist Portfolios 2013 by Saskia Fernando Gallery

Saskia Fernando Gallery (SFG) was established in February 2009. SFG represents the foremost established and emerging contemporary artists from Sri Lanka and curates exhibitions both locally and in collaboration with galleries internationally. The aim of the gallery is to expose the countries contemporary art scene both locally and internationally. In addition to presenting exhibitions SFG curates both private and corporate collections of art, as well as engaging in art consultancy projects for the acquisition of Sri Lankan contemporary art.

SANDUN DE SILVA Sandun de Silva has been working in the local photography industry for over six years. His fashion and lifestyle photography have been featured in international magazines and local publications. He is today one of the most sought-after photographers mainly due to his versatility and distinct contemporary style of photography.

SANDUN DE SILVA

VAJIRA GUNAWARDENA Self-portraits and colour dominate Vajira Gunawardena’s work. Various heads, skulls and faces within the silhouette of a larger head and combined to encompass memories visually. In Gunawardena’s earlier work he painted scenes from daily life and television with a focus on commercialism and consumerism. His latter works have begun to present more of the artist‘s self, in compositions of bright abstract canvases, featuring the face in many forms, expressions and colours. Gunawardena’s work connects with the viewer in a lighter, direct manner. There are no hidden, darker meanings, just pure, bright fun.

VAJIRA GUNAWARDENA

SANJEEWA KUMARA Sanjeewa Kumara has developed a conspicuous style over his last 15 years as an artist. Describing his practice as ‘predominantly an art of surprises’, Kumara’s approach acts out the surreal and the fantastical. His electric palette unites unlikely combinations and disconnected allusions, through sensitivity to delicacy and sensuality. Having gained his BA in Fine Arts in Colombo, Kumara pursued a Diploma and Masters in The Netherlands. Since graduating, he has exhibited internationally, largely in Sri Lanka and Europe. Kumara returned to the University of Kelaniya in 2005 as a visiting lecturer.

SANJEEWA KUMARA

SUJEEWA KUMARI Kumari is one of the foremost female contemporary artists in the local scene today. It is common for young Sri Lankan women to commit themselves to becoming housewives after marriage. Despite being influenced by the work of Frida Kahlo, Kumari confirms that she is not a feminist and does not wish to be referred to by her gender. She feels that at this moment Sri Lankans are in a stage of self-discovery. History enables a base for this discovery, and perhaps a second statement of independence after independence was first achieved in 1948. All her works carry a similar air of femininity. Layers contrasting to emphasize the language with which she communicates, a language she prefers to protect with silence. As Marian Paster Roces writes on Kumari’s work, ‘the inevitable 'hardness' of prose will constrict what is subtle, and solidify what is fluid’.

SUJEEWA KUMARI

PRAGEETH MANOHANSA In his early works Manohansa used spades and mamotees, erected on poles and lined up to symbolize family photos or suspended and descending to represent the retirement of the working class. The concept of the working class, in abstract pieces of sculpture, all rusted and worn, is the flip side of Manohansa’s oeuvre. His conceptual work represents a deeper history of struggle for Sri Lanka’s working class. Figurative and mask sculptures are the most viewed and comprehended of his works, while the former awaits an audience locally that is still preparing itself to absorb conceptual contemporary art. Internationally Manohansa’s works are sought after by collectors in Europe, USA, India and Australia.

PRAGEETH MANOHANSA

YOHAN MEDHANKA Currently the youngest artist represented by the Saskia Fernando Gallery, Medhanka presented one of the most sought-after series of work of 2013. His portraits of Sri Lanka people from the north and south, titled Northern Dream, proved an incredible talent in this self-taught young artist.

YOHAN MEDHANKA

NUWAN NALAKA After completing his Masters and Bachelor of Visual Arts at the Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata, India, Nuwan Nalaka has returned with his most contemporary series of work to date. Better known previously for his skillful watercolour work on paper, his Paradise Road Galleries show set to take place in January 2014 features mixed media paintings on paper. The theme of his new series of work depicts the combination of culture, the spiritual significance of both India and Sri Lanka, as well as intricate descriptions of the artists own writing.

NUWAN NALAKA

NADIA HAJI OMAR Born in 1985 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Nadia Haji Omar is a young Sri Lankan artists emerging fast and strong. Based in New York, Haji Omar completed her Bachelor of Arts at the Bard College in New York. Haji Omar has held solo exhibitions in Colombo and New York and participated in group shows in Sri Lanka, USA, and UK. Haji Omar’s works are refreshingly direct no-nonsense personal depictions of experiences, thoughts, and emotions. There is nothing light or heavy about these abstract works on paper; on the contrary the works have a visual appeal to which the artist’s explanation creates a self-realisation. The ‘artist’s struggle’ is perhaps more evident in Haji Omar’s work, yet the transparency of her self is the strength with which we hope to see many more young women artists progress locally.

NADIA HAJI OMAR

SASKIA PINTELON Born in 1945, in Belgium, Saskia Pintelon moved to Sri Lanka in 1982 after completing her education at the Institute of Visual Arts in Saint Lucas Gent. Between 1968 and 1972 she was a Professor of art at the same as well as the Academy of Art Kortrijk. Pintelon began exhibiting her work in Belgium, France, Sri Lanka, Italy, India and most recently Singapore. The focus of Pintelon’s work was influenced strongly by Sri Lankan culture in the 1980s and consisted of large mixed media works on paper. In the late 2000s Pintelon began a series of work presenting Sri Lankan faces that was published in a book by Clam, titled ‘The Book of Faces’. She continues with this series to-date but has recently shifted to larger mixed media works on canvas and cotton canvas.

SASKIA PINTELON

RUWAN PRASANNA Born in 1980 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Ruwan Prasanna has consistently exhibited his work at the Kala Pola and the Exhibitions of Young Contemporaries held annually in Sri Lanka. In 2010 Prasanna staged his first solo show and has since developed a following of local and international corporate and private collectors. Prasannaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s abstract colour canvases draw inspiration from birds in flight and contrast colours from various species of Sri Lankan birds; a body of work titled Unknown Bird.

RUWAN PRASANNA

JAGATH RAVINDRA Ravindra is consistent in his experimental use of colour and scale and has also recently spanned alternative media, among other new directions. Ravindra believes that artists should uphold their responsibilities as citizens above those of being an artist. He asserts that artistic practice must be examined regularly in order for its message to remain new and relevant. Ravindra is a prominent figure in the development of art education in Sri Lanka, particularly at the University of Kelaniya, where he studied as both as an undergraduate and postgraduate and is now a lecturer. Ravindra has been an instrumental participant of many international artist camps and has exhibited extensively across South Asia and the UK.

JAGATH RAVINDRA

SANJAYA SENAVIRATHNA As a person born and brought up in Buddhist culture, Senavirathna believes that the concepts of good and bad fostered in the Dhamma controls his subconscious mind. In the existing socio cultural ethics "love" is often harnessed for material gain. Man in this scenario, a being unto himself, is driven by selfishness which he has embraced as love. Senavirathna introduces certain materials used in consumerism such as, bits of newspaper, advertising banners onto his canvas (materials which seduce love) and infuse them with colour.

SANJAYA SENAVIRATHNA

CHANDRAGUPTHA THENUWARA Born in 1960, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Chandraguptha Thenuwara is one of Sri Lankaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most established artists and the countries most skilled portrait painter. After completing his Bachelor in Fine Arts at the Institute of Aesthetic Studies in Sri Lanka, Thenuwara went on to complete his Masters in Fine Arts with Honours at the Moscow Institute in Russia, followed by a Masters in Philosophy at the Postgraduate Institute of Archeology in Sri Lanka. Thenuwara has staged solo exhibitions in Sri Lanka, Russia, and most recently in the Netherlands. He has participated in group shows throughout Asia, Europe, North America, and Russia.

CHANDRAGUPTHA THENUWARA

PRIYANTHA UDAGEDARA Udagedara returned briefly to Sri Lanka this year to lecture at a conference organized by the University of Kelaniya. In addition the artist himself curated an exhibition titled â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Beauty and Agonyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of Sri Lankan art in Leeds, UK. This month Udagedara completed his Phd at the Leeds Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom and staged two solo shows, one in Leeds and the other in Portugal.

PRIYANTHA UDAGEDARA

ANUP VEGA Born in Sri Lanka in 1967, Anup Vega is Sri Lanka’s most skilled draftsman and self-taught artist. Vega’s body of work consists of oil, acrylic and watercolour on canvas, board and paper. They depict nature, self-portraits and the artists’ spiritual beliefs.

ANUP VEGA

JAGATH WEERASINGHE Born in 1954 in Sri Lanka Jagath Weerasinghe obtained his BFA with Honors in Painting from the University of Aesthetic Studies in Sri Lanka and his MFA in Painting from the American University in Washington DC. Weerasinghe’s art practice includes painting, drawing, sculpture and installation. Weerasinghe was also the inspiration behind the Colombo Art Biennale that staged it’s second run in 2012. Weerasinghe’s work focuses on the social and political changes in the Sri Lanka throughout his adolescence to adulthood.

JAGATH WEERASINGHE

MIKA TENNEKOON Born in Sri Lanka in 1985, Mika Tennekoon completed her HND in Visual Communication at the Academy of Design in Sri Lanka. Tennekoon presented her work as an illustrator at Pecha Kucha in 2011. The simple translation of day-to-day and emotional events into beautifully constructed illustrations drew SFG to work with her again a few months later on Paper Canvas, a limited edition poster show. Tennekoon has been involved in projects such as the Secret Garden Party and Whale of a time in the UK. Locally she has coordinated Galle Literary Festival workshops, been involved in Colombo Fashion Week and now belongs to a collective named COCA (Collective of Contemporary Artists). Tennekoon also works with multiple mediums such as photography, digital sketches and installation.

MIKA TENNEKOON

ANOMA WIJEWARDENE Born in 1951 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Anoma Wijewardene is one of Sri Lankaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most internationally established female Sri Lankan artists. Wijewardene completed her BA and MA at Central St. Martins College of Art in London and she is represented by SFG in Colombo and has representative galleries in both London and Sydney. Her solo exhibitions have been staged in the UK, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Australia, India and Malaysia. She has participated in group shows in the UAE, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia.

ANOMA WIJEWARDENE

PATHMAL YAHAMPATH Pathmal Yahampath has yet to stage his own solo show, however his large figurative sculpture have begun to make a mark on the local sculpture scene. After staging a two man show with artist Chathurika Jayani at the Lionel Wendt, one of his works is now a permanent feature at The Gallery CafĂŠ.

PATHMAL YAHAMPATH

For further information on all artists please refer to our website. www.saskiafernandogallery.com 41 Horton Place, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka 1 Magistrates Square, Galle Fort, Galle, Sri Lanka Tel +94 11 7429010