“The artist sees what others only catch a glimpse of”, according to Leonardo da Vinci; but through the unique intimacy achievable through social media, art lovers around the world are invited to see through the eyes of the artists themselves through the recently launched Artist Takeover series by Saskia Fernando Gallery (SFG).

The ongoing series aims to provide SFG’s social media audience with insight into the spaces and worlds of the artists they work with, by providing a full day of videos filmed by the artist in their studio/home where they talk about their work, their views, their reading list, the music they like to listen to, as well as doing a brief Q&A session. Each week for the next three months, artists working with SFG, both in Sri Lanka and overseas, will take over the gallery’s Instagram account for one day.

The aim of the takeovers, besides improving their online presence, is to recreate the sense of intimacy and engagement as you watch these takeovers from your own space, says gallerist and curator Saskia Fernando. “It’s the closest thing to a studio visit and for me, and many others, it’s one of the most exciting ways of engaging with an artist. You get to see their work, the way they create and their character via the way they live,” she adds.

Rather than the formal structure of exhibitions, these informal presentations of spaces give an opportunity for  people to simply sit back and enjoy the content, and engage with artists they are curious about; the spontaneity of the content and the raw, unedited nature of it is intentional.

Since 2009 the SFG has represented leading and emerging Sri Lankan artists, taking the island’s flourishing multidisciplinary contemporary art scene to the world through regular exhibitions both in-person at the gallery and through catalogues, as well as their online Viewing Room system available on their website.

This time around, as the country entered the third wave and second major lockdown for 2021,  SFG decided to do things a little bit different from last year, and made the decision to postpone new exhibitions until they can be presented physically alongside online viewing rooms of the shows.

“I don’t believe in art simply for decorating a space,” Saskia adds. “The meaning behind an artist’s work and the person behind the work; this is what art is all about. I want our audience to engage and understand the many layers that exist within contemporary art.”

With past takeovers by artists Jagath Weerasinghe, Muvindu Binoy and Chudamani Clowes, Saskia notes that the response has been “fantastic” and widely enjoyed. She notes with amusement one particularly interesting review of Muvindu Binoy’s space, where a follower was offended by his mess. “We all had a good laugh about it,” she tells us. “I love an artist’s mess and I have yet to meet a completely tidy artist. We will always have people who ‘get it’ and who don’t, that in itself is part of the fun.”

With many more artists set to host their own takeovers, as well as a full calendar until early 2022 and many projects on the horizon, stay up to date by following Saskia Fernando Gallery at @saskiafernandogallery on Instagram. For more information and to access Viewing Rooms, collections and more, visit their website at www.saskiafernandogallery.com

 

 

 

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