Saashya's solo exhibition
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Saashya
Rodrigo |
Described by art collector and author of George Claessen: Artist,
Sculptor and Poet (Paradise Isle Publications, UK 2000) Dr Shamil
Wanigaratne, as an artist with, "a natural talent who projects her
thoughts and feelings in impressionistic and abstract work depicting
everyday Sri Lankan scenes," Bayleaf presents young artist Saashya
Rodrigo's solo exhibition of paintings from the 24th July.
Having just completed her A/levels at The Study, Saashya has been
putting brush to canvas since the age of eight and debuted at a group
exhibition with the students of Latiffa Ismail where she gained her
foundation. Her works are primarily oils on canvas with some in acrylic
and mixed media and has been described as having a vibrant sense of
colour in the works she projects.
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One of her
painting |
Influenced to some extent by European medieval paintings, great
masters in the West, the '43 Group's George Claessen and Sri Lankan
artists Jagath Weerasinghe, Shehan Madawela and Druvinka, according to
Dr Wanigaratne, an avid collector of her works from inception, "Her work
is aesthetically pleasing. But they are not just pretty pictures.
Emotions always compel her to start a painting and it's the background
colour that represents her emotion."
According to Saashya, "Painting is a world I could get lost in and of
these fugue states, I get inspired to produce some creative work."
Largely impressionistic, she has veered into abstraction but not
distortion, eschewing commercialisation in any form. "For me its
everyday scenes that are my greatest influence - it could be people
around me, incidences I live with or even just myself. The images that
spill out are the unique colours of my emotions."
Saashya has sold at Kala Pola, the Senaka Senanayake Gallery at
Cinnamon Grand Colombo and to private collectors in Canada, the US,
London and India. She has also been privately commissioned.
Her first group exhibition at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery at the age
of ten also sparked off the need to fundraise for good causes.
Those funds were utilised to build a house for a disabled soldier and
subsequently she donated some of her paintings to Samutthana, the King's
College London Resource Centre for Trauma, Displacement and Mental
Health and for which two other works were auctioned at a UK-Sri Lanka
Fundraising Dinner at the Grange City Hotel towards the cause. The
exhibition runs from July 24 for one month.
PR
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