The right keys unlock amazing work
View(s):Laki’s artistic output is quite extraordinary as shown by this wonderful book.
An artist presents us with his work, but we need the right keys if we are to have easy access to it. Some of those keys come through an 
understanding of the background and experiences of the artist.
But if the knowledge of the artist and the conditions under which he or she created are not available, some of the most important keys to the art are missing, and the work remains partly closed…
An interesting attempt has been made, through an account of the artist’s development, and of his life and ways of painting, to provide us with of the some keys we need for the interpretation of the work of Laki Senanayake.
Through his background he seems to be inspired by most of Western art from the Etruscans onward – at such a high level that at times I wondered if I were not looking at a Picasso or Matisse.
Laki Senanayake is a creative artist with too much facility for the sake of his own artistic identity. As a result he has produced a most prodigious output!
The exacting botanical drawings of the flora of his own country (often with a bird or animal or two) are uniquely his. As is his preoccupation with fantasies of the local fauna. Among the sculptures I was particularly taken with “Medieval Palace” (pp. 162-163), which takes him well beyond any indebtedness to Giacometti into a realm of his own.
All the art illustrated in this book is impressive. This reviewer hopes that it may help to lead the way to showings of Laki Senanayake’s work at Asian, Australian, European and American museums.
Book facts
“Laki”, introduced by Ronald Lewcock. Published by the Geoffrey Bawa Trust. Reviewed by Henrik Krogius