LOT 53
SENAKA SENANAYAKE
B. Sri Lanka, 1951
Farmers
Signed and dated “Senaka Senanayake 1984” on lower right
Oil on canvas
93 x 93 cm
Provenance Private Collection, Canada
RM 20,000 – RM 50,000
Senaka Senanayake was born to paint. He was celebrated as a child prodigy, whose work was first exhibited in Colombo in the late 1950’s. Subsequently, at the tender age of 10, he held his first international one-man-show in New York. Senanayake’s innate talent led him to continue painting and as a teenager, he held numerous exhibitions in Sri Lanka as well as Europe, the USA and Asia. However, it was only after he received formal training at Yale University, where he studied Art and Architecture, that he decided to surrender to art and painting.
Soon after graduating, he moved back to his roots in Sri Lanka, where he has since established himself as one of the region’s most important living artists. Fuelled by the plight of the Sri Lankan rainforests, his recent works encircled the subject, including intense deforestation to make way for tea plantations. This work entitled ‘farmers’ goes back to his roots in Sri Lanka and portrays the life of farmers, in his distinct manner, using earthy hues.