S.H.Sarath, Love in the afternoon, 2022

One of the innumerable wonders of S. H. Sarath is that he has been painting for more than 55 years and has been involved in over 100 solo as well as group exhibitions in his life. S.H. Sarath is undoubtedly an imaginative and prolific painter. He is sometimes spontaneous, sometimes satirical, some of his work is dark and mysterious; and then, there are the others that are extremely bright and loving. He uses two mediums – oil on canvas and pen and ink on paper. 

Many gods, many Buddhas, and many temples have exploded out of his pen on paper, some with satirical intentions, while others have a moral tale to tell. Some of his work speaks of the utter absurdities in our lives while others show reverence and the sheer loveliness of it all. His pen strokes are as unique as the subjects he chooses to articulate about, such as ‘Puja for Crows at the Zoo’ (pen and ink on paper – 19” x 26.5”) or ‘Shopping from Heaven’ (pen and ink on paper – 16” x 20”).

His main medium is oil on canvas, but he has managed to make some of his oil paintings look matte, as in a wall mural. His influences are the work of cubists such as Picasso and George Keyt. However, some of his works can be considered an ode to Van Gogh or even Chagall. One of his paintings on exhibition, ‘Society in Turmoil’ (oil on canvas- 156” x 56.5”) vaguely reminds one of ‘Guernica’, by Pablo Picasso, while ‘Woman and Swan’ (oil on canvas 25.5” x 42”) is undoubted influenced by Chagall. One can also decipher  the influence of many painters, such as Mattis and Van Gogh, in his ‘Woman’ series. Then there are those in which one cannot liken his work to anyone else’s, such as ‘Woman with Flowers I’ (oil on canvas – 27.5” x 32.5”), which is a dark, ghostlike figure, with blackened eyes and Medusa-‘esk’ hair.

For his exhibition at the Royal Thai Embassy in Colombo, (May 23rd – July 4th, 2023, 10am - 7pm) located at Siam Nivasa, 43, C. W. W. Kannangara Mw., Colombo 07, he has divided his inexhaustible works into 7 sections in 7 rooms. Room A: show the ‘Artist’s Evolving Path’. Room B is called ‘Lover’s’. Room C is dedicated to ‘In Search of the Middle Path’. Room D is called ‘Nature is not for Human Consumerism’. Room E is devoted to ‘Woman’. Room F is for ‘Lovers and Women’. Finally, room G is for ‘Photographs and newspaper coverage’.

Image Courtsey l S.H.Sarath

Just to show how busy this modest man from Weligama has been for the last 55 years, one only has to look at the volume of collections there are of his work. S. H. Sarath’s work has been a part of several collections, including, collections of the President of Sri Lanka, National Development Bank (NDB, Colombo), Commercial Bank (Colombo), ANZ in Norwood, Australia, Westpack Bank, in Adelaide, Australia, The National Art Gallery of Colombo, Ecka Art Gallery in Yugoslavia. There two of his artworks were shown at the UN in Geneva, Switzerland and now one of them has become a permanent piece at the United Nations. 

Sarath’s work speaks of harmony and discord within the self as well as externally. He speaks of love and flowers as well as grotesque, deadly sins. His work can be exquisite like ‘Love in the Afternoon’ (oil on canvas – 33” x 44”) and some are profound, such as ‘Self-mortification’ (pen and ink on paper- 19” x 26.5”). One can see his humor and sense his fears, love and reverence in his works. The amalgamation of remembrances from his childhood to the woes and worries of the people and places that he has experienced throughout his life is prevalent in this collection of work from the last 55 years. 

S. H. Sarath has a brilliant smile which reflects his brilliant art and his unimaginable life. From the age of 6 or 7, he has been interested in art, brought about by the colorful, homemade grocery bags that he would sight at the local market. Born in 1948 in Thal Aramba, Weligama, he states that his art teacher, Mr. M. A. Silva, at Sumangala school, was his initial mentor, so to speak. With this teacher’s encouragement, Sarath entered the Government College of Fine Arts, Colombo in 1968, majoring in painting and drawing. His first exhibition, which occurred in 1972, was a joint excursion at the Lionel Wendt, with an artist by the name of Henry Newton Perera. In 1974, he had his first solo exhibition, also at the Lionel Wendt. And so he went, quietly smiling through love, life and art into the world with his UNIESCO Fellowship at Silpakorn University, Bangkok Thailand in 1979. Now after many countries and even more exhibitions, Mr. S. H. Sarath has compiled a plethora of his artworks through the years, which can be enjoyed at the Royal Thai Embassy in Colombo as stated above. 

S.H.Sarath, Puja for crows at the zoo, 2022

Written by Namalee Siriwardhane