The new Saskia Fernando Gallery on Horton Place has ample room for their interesting art collection.
The old Saskia Fernando Gallery, founded on Dharmapala Mawatha in 2009, was a breath of fresh air to the Colombo art and social scene. It was also tiny, barely one room. Thus it’s nice that the art has a bit more breathing room itself, in its new space on Horton Place.
The Location
The new building on Horton Place is generally across from the JDA Perera Gallery and school and near Coffee Bean. It has slightly better parking than the old location, but the main difference is space. This gallery has an ample downstairs and second floor with four distinct rooms as well as an entry and stairway. All of the spaces have art in them, ranging from sculptures to canvases.
The upstairs viewing areaIt’s a nice, bright and open space to view art in. The walls are white, there’s a lot of natural light and there’s room to walk around and think. In an art gallery you should notice the stuff on the walls rather than the walls or the furniture, and this gallery accomplishes that.
The highlight of the space is the beautiful and delicate elephant sculpture above the entrance. It’s cool.
The Art
Sculpture byPathmal Yahampath
The collection, of course, varies. Saskia was an early supporter of Prageeth Manohansa and his amazing sculptures in metal and spare parts (including the elephant above the entrance and figures in the stairwell) are all around the space. Other known artists are the graffiti artist P413,
Jagath Weerasinghe, etc. The collection varies, but it’s forward looking and good.
Service
Not entirely relevant for a gallery whereby you’re dealing with people direct, but Saskia, Harshi and the crew are very nice and are quite happy to sell you art, or just talk about it.
Conclusion
The new Saskia Fernando Gallery is a big and comfortable space to view or buy some very cool art.
