Highlighting Sri Lankan and regional art initiatives, KALA returns for its second edition this February.

This second edition sees KALA in close collaboration with the University of Visual and Performing Arts (UVPA), Colombo. As the UVPA’s celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, KALA  pays homage to its early leaders such as J.D.A. Perera, Stanley Abeysinghe, David Paynter, and Tissa Ranasinghe, whose pioneering contributions shaped Sri Lanka’s artistic identity.

Established as the Heywood College at its current location at Horton Place, Colombo 07, this institute set up in the late 1800s was amongst colonial projects to train local artisans aimed at strengthening their objectives within the country.

In 1949, following Sri Lanka’s independence from colonial rule, it was renamed the Government Institute of Arts with J.D.A. Perera as the Founding Principal. The mantle was passed down to Paynter and Abeysinghe, along with Ranasinghe, S.P. Charles, W.A. Ariyasena, and many others who shaped pedagogy at the institute.

Paynter along with Perera and Abeysinghe were actively negotiating their relationship with the past and the present as Sri Lanka emerged as a newly independent state. Visual art became a medium to express autonomy. Under the mentorship of H.A. Karunaratne, the academic curriculum largely defined by a figurative practice, witnessed a pedagogic shift as artists were introduced to alternate forms of expression.  Parallel to these developments, visual art evolved to address social issues, create awareness, and enable cultural transformation.

Today, the University of Visual and Performing Arts continues to be a vital institution, having trained many of Sri Lanka’s most celebrated artists

Pivot Glide Echo looks to trace different strands in artistic imagination that shape Sri Lankan art history.  Starting as an intergenerational dialogue in the formal curiosities and experiments in image-making across eight decades, with Lionel Wendt serving as a catalyst, this second edition expands on this engagement while situating the history of visual art in the cultural and sociopolitical moment of its creation.

With the (UVPA) at its epicentre, the exhibition examines the practice of luminaries such as David Paynter (born 1900, Almora, died 1975, Nuwara Eliya), Tissa Ranasinghe (born 1925, Yogiyana, died 2019, London) and H.A. Karunaratne (born 1925, Kalutara, lives and works in Nugegoda) to present a brief glimpse into the concerns that shaped the visual art in post-colonial Sri Lanka.

Curated by KALA Assistant Curator, Mariyam Begum and supported by the Rukmini Tissanayagam Trust, Pivot Glide Echo will showcase the works of modern and contemporary artists while highlighting the resonances they share in themes, social concerns, and explorations of artistic practice with a homage to the masters of Heywood.

The artists include Ena De Silva, H.A. Karunaratne, Jagath Ravindra, Chandraguptha Thenuwara, Priyantha Udagedara,Thamotharampillai Sanathanan, Tilak Samarawickrema, Pala Pothupitiye, Dominic Sansoni, Laki Senanayake and Jagath Weerasinghe.

Says Saskia Fernando, founder of KALA, “We are honoured to be provided the opportunity to continue the research of modern and contemporary Sri Lankan visual art practice in collaboration with the UVPA. Alongside our efforts to foster young curatorial practice and research, the exhibition ‘Pivot Glide Echo’ aims to further the understanding of our modernist movements. Our rich visual art history lacks archival and academic research, owing greatly to the continued crisis that we have endured as a nation.”

The exhibition has generous support from The Rukmini Tissanayagam Foundation which was set up by Mohan Tissanayagam in memory of his wife who passed away in May last year. The Tissanayagams have been strong supporters of the arts over the years – music, theatre, art and dance, and the Foundation was launched last year on Mrs. Tissanayagam’s birthday, the 13th of December with a concert by opera singer Kishani Jayasinghe at the Chapel of Good Hope, Ladies College, Mrs. Tissanayagam’s old school. The first donation was to the refurbishment of the school hall.

The support for KALA South Asia continues in that vein in memory of Mrs. Tissanayagam, to support the arts in any form, help artistes and bring a few world class events to Sri Lanka, Mr Tissanayagam said.

 

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