Artistic conversation on people’s lives entangled in political systems
View(s):Hashan Cooray will present his fifth solo exhibition with the Saskia Fernando Gallery. Titled ‘Dystopia’, this collection features gestural paintings and two installation works that confront the complex relationship between an individual and the socio-political systems within which they exist – stirring a conversation on the inherent struggles of the human condition.
Elements from popular culture and advertisements appear within his compositions highlighting the pervasive influence of media and advertising on society but also challenging viewers to reconsider their own participation in and attitudes toward a consumer-centric world. The artist continues to question the concept of the public gaze, explored in his previous exhibitions.
Hashan Cooray - Dance with God
‘Dystopia’ will feature two installations, one of which comprises sixty metres of newspaper headlines from the 2022 Aragalaya protest movement and the aftermath. Cooray’s foray into installations furthers his conversation on the entanglement of individual lives with political systems and provides an interactive space for the audience to actively engage with these themes.
Repurposing propaganda posters and commercial advertisements, Cooray attempts to confront the way in which society is caught up in the web of nationalism, capitalism, and consumerism.
His work has been featured in both group and solo exhibitions at Saskia Fernando Gallery, Lionel Wendt Art Centre and JDA Gallery. The artist has also been featured in the Imago Mundi Book Project published by the Benetton Foundation and is featured in multiple private collections in Sri Lanka.
‘Dystopia’ opened on Thursday, June 27 and will run until July 20 at the Saskia Fernando Gallery, 41 Horton Place, Colombo 07. The programme for the exhibition will include artist walkthroughs and workshops.
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