ARTRA’s ‘Comics & Caricature’ edition and Art Experiential Festival in Oct.

ARTRA Magazine, Sri Lanka’s modern and contemporary art magazine is set to launch ‘Comics and Caricatures’, their awaited 65th edition on the second day of their grandiose Art Experiential Festival from 13 to 15 October at 4:15 p.m. 

This edition will feature stunning artwork from renowned Sri Lankan artists, caricaturists and cartoonists Aubrey Collette (1920-1992), Bevis Bawa (1909-1992) and Gihan de Chickera (b. 1978). 

ARTRA Founder and Editor-in-Chief Azara Jaleel hopes that this forthcoming edition will encapsulate the significance of humour plays within the larger genre of alternative storytelling. ‘Comics and Caricatures’ endeavours to explore the potentials caricature and cartoons have as an accessible alternative to traditional journalistic writing, and their potency in addressing critical socio-political issues. 

Famed for his iconic affiliation with the ‘43 Group, Aubrey Collette was an artist whose caricatural works sung with the social and political undercurrents tied to prominent societal figures of early to mid-1900s Sri Lanka. His works include popular prints such as ‘Seven Prime Ministers Series’ and farcical depictions of the then-prominent socialite Yvone Gulamhusein.

Bevis Bawa was similarly driven to create drawings depicting his diverse and glamorous friends within Sri Lanka, in a uniquely grotesque yet riveting style which betrayed his underlying wit and taste for satirical commentary. Though he is more known in Sri Lanka’s popular consciousness for his venerated artistry in relation to natural landscape architecture, ARTRA’s anticipated Comics & Caricatures edition will share a richer and more holistic viewpoint towards Bevis Bawa’s artistic career that is sure to shed transformative light upon the shadows of his legacy. The final spotlighted artist in this edition, Gihan de Chickera, embodies transformation through his art, displaying a sharp and fresh critique of topical discourses through his animal iconography. 

ARTRA’s Comics and Caricatures presents a succinct microcosm of humour’s indispensable contribution to contemporary art in Sri Lanka, as well as its brimming potential in continuing to shape the country’s artistic future. 

ARTRA Magazine’s forthcoming Comics & Caricatures is set to be launched through ‘Bawa Brothers’—a resplendent three-day Art Experiential Festival from 13 to 15 October, held at the magnificent Cinnamon Bentota Beach Hotel, ARTRA’s Exclusive Hospitality Partner, and Brief, the Home and Garden of Bevis Bawa, ARTRA’s Exclusive Heritage Partner. The highly anticipated Art Experiential Festival promises a dynamic and exciting line-up of programs across its three-day run, featuring exclusive art tours, art exhibits and talks by some of the most prolific and influential figures at the heart of Sri Lanka’s contemporary art industry, including author and photojournalist Juliet Coombe who penned best-sellers such as ‘Around the Galle Fort in 80 Lives’ and ‘Sri Lanka’s Other Half: A Guide to the Central, Eastern and Northern Provinces’, and Cresside Collette contemporary artist and daughter of Aubrey Collette, as well as Rohan de Soysa celebrated photographer and Chairman of the Sapumal Foundation, and Dooland de Silva the owner and guardian of Brief, the Home and Garden of Bevis Bawa, and an iconic landscape designer who has worked with Geoffrey Bawa in his remarkable creations.

ARTRA’s Art Experiential Festival | Bawa Brothers presents a unique opportunity for enthusiasts and fascinated guests of the festival to engage with the exclusive cultural sites that are Cinnamon Bentota Beach Hotel and Brief Garden. The first day of the festival opens on 13 October with a one-of-a-kind art tour by Editor-in-Chief Azara Jaleel, and British Author Juliet Coombe, at 7 p.m. in Cinnamon Bentota Beach Hotel, a stunning architectural design created by the legendary Geoffrey Bawa, and entails uncovering not only the relationship between the brothers Geoffrey and Bevis Bawa, but also the stories and relationships pertinent to the curation of the artistic elements of the hotel, such as artworks by Sri Lanka’s contemporary art icons Barbara Sansoni, Ismeth Raheem, Laki Senanayake, Ena de Silva and more. 

This spectacular event will be followed by Juliet Coombe’s Kill or Cure Tour at Brief Garden, on the second day of the festival at 9:30 a.m., which will unveil the hidden mysteries beneath the hypnotising blend of artistic sentiment and tropical flora that is a representation of Bevis Bawa’s brilliance within his iconic home and garden. The events at ARTRA’s Art Experiential Festival | Bawa Brothers therefore offers art enthusiasts the unique opportunity to expand their personal and professional knowledge of the ‘Bawa Brothers’ Bevis Bawa (1909-1992) and Geoffrey Bawa (1919-2003), while seamlessly blending together themes from Comics & Caricatures regarding artists such as Aubrey Collette (1920-1992) and Gihan de Chickera (b. 1978). For more in-depth information about ARTRA’s Art Exponential Festival’s program line-up, visit the official ARTRA website at https://www.artra.lk/visual-art/programme-of-aef-oct-2023. 

For tickets and festival day passes for ARTRA’S Art Experiential Festival | Bawa Brothers on 13 to 15 October and to pre-order your copy of the Comics & Caricatures Edition 65, call +9477 570 1891.