Kavan Balasuriya

Barefoot Gallery, Colombo (2016)

A resplendent collection of artworks by Laki Senanayake revealed a sharp and playful demeanour, upon the familiar walls of Barefoot Gallery in September 2016. Once archived as part of a forgotten history, a selection of seventy-three pieces emerged as The Lost Collection, largely dating back from the 1970s.

The anthology appears to employ the understanding of morphogenesis, survival, eroticism and sensuality to present a comprehensive discourse on the relationship between environment, impermanence, evolution and mortality. Senanayake’s substantial research interests are disclosed in the studious examination of biological organisms, mechanics and structures. The space hosted illuminating content that ranged from patient, monochromatic botanical illustrations, intensively figurative landscape studies, colourful depictions of exotic creatures from excerpts of oriental folklore and a warm corridor of mediated, suggestive compositions.

The artist has a telling instinct in evoking the shared perceptive breadth of his natural subjects and the environment in which they reside. Mythologies are surmised through the colourfully presented impulse of such beings: The Crab & Heron couplet depicts the onset and execution in the perennial struggle of a determined David working a fatalism against a colossal Goliath; toxicity, power and wisdom are accorded when tales are recounted in The Gem of Knowledge and The Monkey Sage. In addition Senanayake manages to fundamentally articulate a source of symbolic pride and residential glory; recognised throughout the archaic history of the island, in the molten depiction of the lion as an enacting manifestation of the rising sun.

The depictions of deep jungle forms are supplanted by the habitual addressing of the singular giants of the botanical world. These range from the Ironwood, Kumbuk and Margosa trees, coupled in with the iconic palm leaf and foliage illustrations, which culminate in the theatrical Udawattekelle I & II. Chimerical visions are invoked through the merging interplay of consuming terrains and phantasmagorical figurations in Viscera, Owl Tree, Dry Zone Landscape and the deviant Erotica series. The relationship explored between the figurative and landscape is a critical subject of abstraction presented in the exhibition. Its relevance is significant as these ancient spaces continually transfigure themselves from safe, personal sanctuaries to those of nightmarish flight and terror experienced in the predatory destruction of the civil war.

Senanayake, a multi-talented intellect, artist, architect and landscape designer – to name a few occupations – has once again maintained his towering stature in Sri Lanka’s realm of visual art and design. The dedication towards celebrating the mixture of elements which contribute to the island’s individuality dates back millennia, from the representation of fauna and flora to the excellence indepicting the South Asian human figure. Senanayake’s predecessors and contemporaries in this regard include George Keyt, Lionel Wendt and David Paynter, to the meandering gardens and tropical modernism of Bevis and Geoffrey Bawa, and the pioneering design foundations of Barbara Sansoni and Ena de Silva. Their efforts have helped create some of South Asia’s most iconic and memorable experiences. In homage to this unmatched artist Barefoot celebrated the collection with the total surrender of all its hanging space.

Written by Kavan Balasuriya

October 2016