Kavan Balasuriya

About:

Kavan Balasuriya (b. 1992, Colombo, Sri Lanka) is an artist who earned a B.A. in Fine Art at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art & Design, University of the Arts, London, in 2014. He lives and works between Paris, London, and Colombo.

Kavan’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions, including Legacies of Crossings (2024), curated by Zahra Khan, the inaugural showcase of Kalā South Asia (2024), the Serendipity Arts Festival (2018), the Colombo Art Biennale (2016), and Colomboscope (2015, 2016). His first solo exhibition with the Saskia Fernando Gallery was titled Lightlines (2022).

Specialising in drawing and engraving, Kavan’s practice explores the relationship between light and shadow, surface and depth, and abstraction and realism. Primarily working with ink and aluminium foil, his pictures are inspired by the principle of emergence in complex systems. He creates gestural and geometric abstractions, assimilating them into intricate fields of pattern and form– where the whole transcends the sum of its parts.

In his work with aluminium foil, Kavan creates etched surfaces that engage the foil medium as both a ‘site’ and a ‘field’. Drawing from architectural language and reflecting on its influence, he traces the folds and textures of the foil to generate compositions through repetitive and meditative mark-making. The results challenge visual perception by connecting tangible materials with intangible experience, evoking and exploring themes of space, matter, identity, and temporality.

He is currently a visiting artist in residence at the University of Visual and Performing Arts in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he practises in the Printmaking Department (January - April 2025).

Exhibitions:

2024 - Artful Struggles: An Exhibition of Contemporary Art from Sri Lanka, GemArts Masala Festival, Newcastle, United Kingdom

2024 - Legacies of Crossings, curated by Art Divvy, Shahnaz Gallery, London, United Kingdom

2024 - Pivot, Glide, Echo, Kalā South Asia, Lionel Wendt Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2022 - Lightlines [Solo], Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2022 - Galvanise, Spitalfields Studios, London, United Kingdom

2019 - A Clueless Pedestrian Presents: Zebra Crossing, Green Lens Studios, London, United Kingdom

2019 - Be The Break, J.D.A. Perera Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2019 - Emergency, Paradise Road Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2019 - Contextures, dual showcase with Sam van Strien, A-side B-side Gallery, London, United Kingdom

2018 - Young Subcontinent: Sightlines, Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa, India

2018 - Sub_Sequence AV Lab, BorderMovement, Rio Hotel & Cinema, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2018 - Palimpsest, Colombo Fashion Week: Art Connect, Australia Building, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2018 - Art Trails [Solo], Fairway Galle Literary Festival 2018, Galle, Sri Lanka

2017 - Exhibition [Solo], Black Cat Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2016 - Conceiving Space, collaboration with Asvajit Boyle, Colombo Art Biennale, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2016 - Wings: A Festival of Arts, J.D.A. Perera Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2016 - Testing Grounds: Art and Digital Cultures in South Asia and Europe, Cinnamon Colomboscope, Former General Post Office, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2016 - Manifest, Dual showcase with Branka Ridicki, Barefoot Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2016 - Colombo Fashion Week: Frame [Second Edition], Dual showcase with P413, Colombo Fashion Week, Land Rover Showroom, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2015 - Slap 2, Conartist NYC Gallery, New York, USA

2015 - Exhibition Two [Solo], Ruby Studio Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2015 - Shadow Scenes, Cinnamon Colomboscope, Rio Hotel complex, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2015 - Slap: Adhesives & Egos, Hot Butter Collective & Conartist NYC, Ruby Studio Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2015 - In Space: An Immersive Exhibition, Hot Butter Collective, Barefoot Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2015 - Exhibition One [Solo], Ruby Studio Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka

2014 - Degree Show One, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, UK

2014 - Psychoelectric: Live at 72. London, UK

2013 - Bring Your Own Beamer [B.Y.O.B], Collaboration with Victor Fischl, Oxford House Chapel, London, UK

2013 - Soundwaves Across the Seas, Byam Shaw School of Art, London, UK & Dublin, Ireland

Publications:

2016 - Sri Lanka: Re-Imagining Ceylon: Contemporary Artists from Sri Lanka, Imago Mundi Collection