Unique creative expression through Art Connect at Colombo Fashion Week

Under the theme 'Celebrate Colombo', the premier HSBC Colombo Fashion Week includes a new initiative and a project where Fashion meets Art, statement from CFW said.

This project is called ART CONNECT, which exemplifies the connection between the creative streams of Fashion and Art.  Art Connect is presented by The Residences by One Galle Face.

Art Connect will be the first of the series of events during the week of CFW, it is the Colombo Fashion Week kick-off event. Colombo Fashion Week this year celebrates Colombo under the theme 'Celebrate Colombo' in association with the Sri Lanka Tourism.
For the first time five major artists will come together to create work that is inspired by fashion. Their means of expression are distinctly unique and each have picked up an element of fashion to create on.

The name of the exhibition is quite apt, it’s called 'SECOND SKIN', closely representing fashion. This will be a first of sorts. Each artist will create 05 pieces each and it will be exhibited at a unique venue in Colombo on the evening of the 13th of March.

The five  artists  are - Kingsley Gunathilaka - His journey in life reflected through abstract art on canvas with the mixing of colour insisting on an "uncomplicated space free of problems".

Mahen Perera - His work explores the innate mutability of materials that gravitate between painting and sculpture; how permutation reconstructs and provides new stimuli for visual perception. 
 

Sanjeewa Kumara - He explores the use of lush, sensual imagery, and how the collision of Western pop culture and the South Asian Islands post-colonial legacy impacts his imagination. 
 

Pala Pothupitiye - He confronts issues such as colonialism, nationalism, religious extremism and extends his inquiry to questions of caste, the distinction between arts and crafts, tradition and modernity.

Sanjaya Geekiyanage - He uses copper as a medium for his work; evoking different colours from the material. His is an unusual technique of wrecking the copper and reassembling it for sculptures.

The curator of this exhibition is Chamika De Alwis, Chartered Architect by profession, but passionate about art, he has worked closely with Fazeena to create this.