Press

Peter Harris’s Dutch era mansion in the heart of Galle showcases an eclectic collection of modern and contemporary art from Sri Lanka, Australia, and China. His carefully curated selection of minimal and figurative works by Donald Friend, Chandraguptha Thenuwara, Jagath Weerasinghe, Fabienne Francotte, Hema Shironi, and Marisa Purcell reflects the collector’s refined taste in art and the experiences he has gathered from living in different parts of the world.

Hema Shironi, Mended Fences II (2023)

Marisa Purcell, Certain Uncertainties (2020)

TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF.

I have spent the last twenty plus years living between Hong Kong and Shanghai.My role of President within the Lane Crawford Joyce Group was that of leading a team in the work of selection, curation and management of an extended portfolio of international luxury retail brands across Greater China and South East Asia.

Prior to making my home in Asia, I lived in Florence, Italy. I was born and educated in Australia. The last eighteen months I have spent in Galle on a personal project, the restoration of a Dutch colonial house that was built in 1712.

When did you first start acquiring art?

I was influenced by a gift; the Donald Friend diaries, a four part volume printed by the National Library of Australia in 2005 .This substantive work, made a strong impression on me, and as a consequence of these publications, I began to collect pieces from this artist with a number of the early works being from his years spent living in Sri Lanka.

The volume which specifically chronicled Donald Friend’s time living at Brief in Sri Lanka, particularly peaked my interest and was the motivation to make the first visit to Sri Lanka in 2005.

Donald Friend, Eating a Mango (1941) Guiseppe (1950) & The Reclinig Ceylon (1958)

Would you say that the places you have lived in have shaped your perception and appreciation of art?

Yes most definitely. Places visited and lived in develop perception and appreciation.

Italy provided unlimited access to the great works. My apartment was near to the Accademia Gallery in Florence, affording me the opportunity for weekly visits to Michelangelo sculptures in the glory of their raw form. In Italy, like most countries, art is not confined to galleries or museums. Buildings, fountains, gardens, all provided daily and continuous opportunity for appreciation.

Living in Shanghai was to witness the birth of the artist and art in contemporary China. This birth was very much facilitated by the network of galleries that developed to enthusiastically champion all that was new. It was a moment that offered a unique insight into a movement in a country that’s had been dominated for centuries by a classical art form.

The last eighteen months spent in Sri Lanka has allowed me to reconnect with my interest in Sri Lankan art, the process of collecting is one of understanding more deeply the country you are living in.

Michael Cusak, Shi Yong & Chandraguptha Thenuwara

IS THERE A PARTICULAR TYPE OF ART THAT YOU COLLECT?

In addition to subject, technique is something I am drawn to. I have been clearly influenced by the time spent living in China, where I moved away from the complex and figurative to a more minimal subject.

I was very drawn to a piece I now own by Chandraguptha Thenuwara from his Glitch series. This in part was because it represented a bridge to some of the earlier pieces I had collected during the time I spent in China. As a collector it represented a continuity to earlier pieces .

Abdul Halik Azeez, day dreamer you are 35 (2021)

What got you you started with collecting Sri Lankan art?

On my first visit to SFG quite a number of years back, I purchased a piece by Saskia Pintelon. It was from an early series, a portrait created with black ink on craft paper, it hangs in my mothers house in Sydney, and is very admired.

Sri lanka has a rich and diverse cultural history. The work of the young contemporary artists are very immediate and about now. As a visitor and now a resident in Sri Lanka, the process of collecting art which in itself is a study allows access to an understanding of both now and the past.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MOST SENTIMENTAL OR MEANINGFUL PIECES IN YOUR COLLECTION?

The piece by Hema Shironi was commissioned for the entrance hall to the house . Eight foot in length, it is a wondrous work both in terms of its complex subject and technique. In contrast the large scale piece by Australian artist Marissa Purcell which hangs in the library, is an acrylic wash which is very purist in approach.

Both pieces are particularly meaningful to me as they represent the appreciation of the wide appeal that can exist within a collection with regard to both subject and technique.

Hema Shironi, Mended Fences II (2023)

Over the years how has your collection grown?

My collection has grown organically. It is a consequence of where I am, what I am seeing, a conversation, or accessing technology that allows you in the space of hours to be able globally to discover the next piece.

I have two figurative pieces of acrylic on paper by Jagath Weerasinghe that I discovered online in the midst of a twenty one day Covid quarantine in China. I dwelled on the mood of those pieces during the long days of hotel confinement, imagining if they were mine where I would hang them, it was to be my reward upon gaining my freedom.

WHAT FACTORS ARE IMPORTANT TO YOU WHEN COLLECTING A PIECE OF ART?

Subject, technique, a connection through the work to the artist and importantly a relationship with the gallery. The majority of my pieces are sourced from three galleries in Shanghai , Sydney and Colombo. The attraction to a gallery is not dissimilar to the loyalty you may have to others creatives, a writer, or a designer. You follow their curation .You are aligned with their choices. They become a very important medium to the artist and the piece you may be following.

Jagath Weerasinghe, Apsara I (2005)

Michael Cusak, Faraday, Zinc & Ruins (2020)

Your collection includes figurative and abstract works, with a penchant for the minimal. What drew you to this style?

The evolution from figurative to a more minimal approach is representative of my personal journey; as in life as a collector. My move towards the minimal is a combination of growing self confidence in terms of personal taste and the desire to live in a much simpler way.

How do you find working in the design of a Dutch colonial house, considering you have a minimalist taste in art and interior design?

Doornberg my home in Galle was built in 1712. In common with all Dutch architecture of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, it is in fact very austere and symmetrical in build. The building is imbued with strength. With ceiling heights of six meters, large square rooms and a dominance of wood detailing across ceilings, windows and doors, the space is particularly suited to larger hangings. The pieces I have chosen for the house work quite independently to the architecture of the building.

Curating a minimalistic style, not only with art but with furniture and fittings guarantees an appreciation and rightful focus for the design of the house which after all should be the first consideration given it has stood for over three hundred plus years.

Do you collect for the space and the place you living or are you collecting as a collector?

I collect what attracts me. Space can always be found. I constantly move pieces. I enjoy the mobility of seeing pieces in differing contexts, in new light and with new adjacencies.

Marisa Purcell, Evening Bells (2022)

Who is an artist you look forward to collecting and why?

I have recently acquired some works by Fabienne Francotte which I am really enjoying. The pieces possess a lightness of spirit, an energy that is quite transportive and representative of the artist as a person. I would like to have a work by Saskia Pintelon for the house in Galle, it would complete the circle of where I began with my first Sri Lankan piece being from her. Doubting my mother will surrender the piece from her home.