SANSĀRA: Nuwan Nalaka

28 August - 17 September 2020

  • Saskia Fernando Gallery is pleased to present the new exhibition of work by Nuwan Nalaka titled Sansāra. In Nalaka’s recent works the ​artist highlights the collective experience of man and nature. Nalaka reflects on the sheer amount of suffering and despair currently endured by so many people around the world due to the pandemic. He strives to emphasize the collective strength of humanity that has emerged in this universal experience; the silver linings that will usher the crisis through to its natural end.

  • Nuwan Nalaka fills his latest series of paintings with raw energy produced by the ongoing pandemic. In Sansāra, the artist reflects on the sheer amount of suffering and despair currently endured by so many people around the world. Yet he strives to emphasize the collective strength of humanity that has emerged in this universal experience; the silver linings that will usher the crisis through to its natural end. Nuwan initially planned a different series of work for this showcase, a selection of which are presented in the Cacti series of paintings, but he was so overwhelmed by the immeasurable impact of the pandemic that he felt compelled to make this collection. 

    • Nuwan Nalaka, Sansāra 05, 2020
      Nuwan Nalaka, Sansāra 05, 2020
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    • Nuwan Nalaka, Sansāra 06, 2020
      Nuwan Nalaka, Sansāra 06, 2020
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    • Nuwan Nalaka, Sansāra 07, 2020
      Nuwan Nalaka, Sansāra 07, 2020
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  • The dichromatic Cacti series illustrates Nuwan’s exploration of the relationship between social conservatism and sexual nature. Floral vulva and phallic cacti appear amidst erotic female figures, British colonial-era coats of arms and pollinating bees. Sensuality once had a prominent place in classical South Asian art in the forms of sculpted human figures and carnal, yet religious, Hindu temples. Taking inspiration from how the colonial tradition documented the indigineous lands, Nuwan uses the Cacti as a metaphorical representation of individual resistance to political, emotional and sexual suppression. He questions the displacement of the pure, nude body in today’s society by investigating how this censorship is connected to Victorian-era conservatism. 

     

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  • Nuwan Nalaka, Sansāra 08, 2020 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Nuwan Nalaka, Sansāra 10, 2020 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Nuwan Nalaka, Sansāra 12, 2020 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Nuwan Nalaka Sansāra 13, 2020 Watercolour on Fabriano Paper 30 x 42 cm 11 3/4 x 16 1/2 in LKR 175,000.00 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Nuwan Nalaka
    Sansāra 08, 2020
    Watercolour on Fabriano Paper
    75 x 105 cm
    29 1/2 x 41 3/8 in
    LKR 175,000.00
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  • Buddhism describes a Middle Path set on the road to Enlightenment that sees as much darkness as it does light. It is on this metaphysical journey that one can understand the balance between the forms of order, chaos, life, death, mind and nature. The motif of the white lotus and the pond from which it emerges is an important symbol in many Buddhist cultures. The pure flower blooms from the murkiest of depths. This represents how mind, body and environment influence each other. 

    Buddhism describes a Middle Path set on the road to Enlightenment that sees as much darkness as it does light....
    Nuwan Nalaka
    Sansāra 09, 2020
    Watercolour on Fabriano Paper
    75 x 105 cm
    29 1/2 x 41 3/8 in
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  • In addition to this, the terms nirvana and Sansāra are fundamental concepts in Buddhism. Sansāra traditionally refers to the cyclical and often difficult nature of existence, where good and evil are two sides of the same coin; nirvana symbolises the evolution of this cycle and the supreme state of bliss attained when one transcends the material concerns of everyday existence.