In a historic milestone for the South Asian art ecosystem, Saskia Fernando Gallery was invited by the prestigious Frieze Masters London to present the work of Dr H.A. Karunaratne (1929–2026), featuring works from 1950 to 1970, in the section focusing on 20th-century solo presentations, featuring under-recognised artists and new research. This will be the first dedicated global art fair presentation of the Estate of the late Dr H.A. Karunaratne (1929–2026) and the first time a Sri Lankan gallery has been invited to exhibit at this leading international platform, making Dr Karunaratne the second Sri Lankan artist to be featured at Frieze Masters since Lionel Wendt in 2014. H.A. Karunaratne will be featured in the Frieze Masters Spotlight section curated by Dr Devika Singh and Dr Sofia Gotti.
Revered as the "Father of Abstract Art in Sri Lanka," Dr Karunaratne’s six-decade career combined American Abstract Expressionism with Zen Buddhist philosophies. His academic background includes a 1961 Japanese Government Scholarship to Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and a 1966 Fulbright Award to New York's Pratt Institute. A prominent lecturer, he earned Sri Lanka’s 'Kala Suri' and Japan's 'Order of the Rising Sun.' His masterworks are held in prestigious institutions worldwide, including New Delhi's National Gallery of Modern Art and leading Japanese museums in Osaka, Kamakura, and Hayama.
Frieze Masters is globally recognised for its secondary market and art valuation centres under three pillars: Contextual Validation (Frieze Masters), Provenance and CV Scrutiny, and Real-Time Sentiment Testing. This curatorial excellence and historical scholarship attract the world's leading museums, collectors, and scholars. For Sri Lankan art, this inclusion offers an unprecedented stage to place the nation’s modernist achievements alongside global masters, permanently raising its visibility and market presence.
A strategic partnership with LYNEAR Wealth Management supports the exhibition. This collaboration treats investment-grade fine art as a transparent, regulated cross-border asset class, linking wealth management with cultural preservation. The presentation will feature pre-1980s abstract artworks highlighting the artist’s exploration of materiality and the rhythmic interplay between fabric and metal.
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