• Exhibition to remain open until 30 June

Gallery FourLife, located down Boteju Road, Colombo 5, will be displaying the work of Ivan Peries this month, giving art enthusiasts and students the opportunity to take a closer look at this pioneer artist’s work.

The exhibition will open today (9), with an event organised from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., during which visitors can enjoy a musical performance by Peries’ great grandnephew Nuran Gomez as well as Randhini Fernando.

The exhibition at Gallery FourLife will remain open until 30 June.

Gallery FourLife Managing Director Chathuranga Biyagama shared with The Daily Morning Brunch that 23 masterpieces by Ivan Peries will be showcased at the exhibition. This includes six published works. “There is a limited edition book titled Ivan Peries, where his work is published. Six of these works were published in the book,” Biyagama explained.

When asked why the gallery chose to display Peries’ work, Biyagama shared: “He was a pioneer artist of the 43 Group. We feel that modern-day Sri Lankan art lovers haven’t seen much of Sri Lankan pioneer artists’ work and Ivan Peries is a major artist who brought down modern art culture from Europe to Sri Lanka, which is why we wanted to showcase his work.”

Peries, born in 1921, showed an interest in art when he was very young, and later, painter Harry Pieries became his mentor and friend. In 1946, Ivan Peries trained at the St. John’s Wood School of Art in London, UK for four years, returned to Sri Lanka in 1949, but went back to London in 1953. Descriptions of Peries’ life state that he spent half his life in self-imposed exile in London and Southend-On-Sea but that his art remained to the end a prolonged meditation on his native Sri Lankan experience.

Peries was a founding member of the 43 Group, which consisted of principal members W.J.G. Beling, Aubrey Collette, Justin Daraniyagala, Ivan Peries, Harry Pieris, and Lionel Wendt as well as George Claessen, Richard Gabriel, and George Keyt. The collective, formed in August 1943, is described as Sri Lanka’s first modern art movement.

“It arose because a group of artists felt that the art being practised and taught at the time was too academic and rigid, nor did it attempt to follow new developments in European art since the early 20th Century. They, therefore, decided to form a group more open to these new developments but with a distinct Ceylonese stamp and flavour,” Sapumal Foundation Chair Rohan de Soysa said during a presentation made to the National Trust of Sri Lanka.

While the formation of the 43 Group is considered an important point of Sri Lanka’s art history, Peries’ work remains of interest to art enthusiasts. The work showcased at Gallery FourLife includes watercolours, oil on canvas, and mixed media.

“These types of exhibitions are very rare, so it’s a good opportunity for Sri Lankan art lovers, art students, and the public to come and see this type of pioneer work,” Biyagama said, inviting all those with an interest in art to visit the exhibition.