ARTRA Magazine, Sri Lanka’s only art magazine launched ‘Art & Design of Ismeth Raheem.’ This edition featured a collection of over 65 works collated across Raheem’s career as an artist, architect and art historian. The curated works centre the influence of Raheem’s time working at Edwards, Reid and Begg in the 1960s, influenced by the architectural and design icons Geoffrey Bawa and Ulrik Plesner among other artistic contemporaries that resulted in an oeuvre of works teeming with an understanding of art and architecture, characterising his collection of work as imaginative responses to built environments.

ARTRA Magazine’s edition ‘Art & Design of Ismeth Raheem’ was launched through the Art Experiential Festival – a three-day festival from 6 to 8 September in Colombo. Previously hosted in artistic spaces across the island,  this was the first iteration of the festival to debut in Colombo. The festival themed ‘Art & Design’ was hosted across art and heritage spaces in Colombo, including the Harold Peiris Gallery at the Lionel Wendt Art Centre and the de Soysa House that was designed by architect Geoffrey Bawa (1919 - 2003), situated in Colombo 7 and Colombo 3 respectively.

The anticipated Art Experiential Festival promised a dynamic line-up of programmes across its three-day run, featuring exclusive art tours, art exhibits and talks by some of the most relevant and influential figures of Sri Lanka’s contemporary art industry, including architect Anura Ratnavibhushana, an apprentice of Geoffrey Bawa, and Ulrik Plesner at the firm Edwards Reid & Begg in the 1960s and has published notable works such as his autobiography Creating Simplicity (2009) and his limited edition architectural book Timeless Houses.

It also featured  Architecture for Living in Sri Lanka (2014), 2022 LVMH Prize-nominated designer and artist Amesh Wijesekara, reputed children’s literature author and Senior Professor in English at the University of Colombo Professor Neluka Silva, Professor Sharya Scharenguivel who is currently Emeritus Professor of Law and former Dean, Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, and daughter of the owners of the De Soysa House, Cecil and Chloe de Soysa, as well as the revered artist and architect Ismeth Raheem of which the forthcoming magazine is centred upon.

ARTRA’s Art Experiential Festival | Art & Design presented a unique opportunity for art enthusiasts and fascinated guests of the festival to engage with the art heritage sites that are the de Soysa House by Geoffrey Bawa and the Harold Peiris Gallery, Lionel Wendt Centre of the Arts, Colombo. The first day of the festival opened on Friday, 6th September with the highly-anticipated launch of the forthcoming magazine ‘Art & Design of Ismeth Raheem’ Edition 67.

This segment entailed an evening of art, conversation, canapes and cocktails with the revered artist, architect and art historian Ismeth Raheem, celebrating the over 65 selected works of art including paintings, drawings, wood panels, woodcuts and etchings collated and curated from the 1960s onwards where he joined Edwards, Reid and Begg in the 1960s, which fuelled the creative renaissance of that era in collaboration with the legendary Geoffrey Bawa and Ulrik Plesner.

Following the grand launch, Day 2 took place at the Harold Peiris Gallery, Lionel Wendt. Amidst the art centre that was built upon the foundations of Wendt’s original home Alborado, the second day featured a plethora of intriguing art talks as well as an exclusive exhibit ‘Purveying the Body’ curated by Azara Jaleel which showcased a selection of 30 photographs by Lionel Wendt from the Lionel Wendt Memorial Fund Collection, in response of ARTRA Magazine’s Photographs of Lionel Wendt Edition (2021). Day 3 of the festival was hosted amidst the architectural marvel and historic design of the de Soysa House by Geoffrey Bawa on Sunday, 8th September and featured an interactive walkthrough of the space at 9 am, amidst the dynamic talks of the day.

The segments at ARTRA’s Art Experiential Festival | Art & Design, therefore, offer art enthusiasts the unique opportunity to expand their insight into the historical works of art by bygone legends of the Sri Lankan art world such as venerated Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa (1919 - 2003) and the Modernist maestro Lionel Wendt (1900 - 1944) and offered them the chance to engage in exciting discourse around Sri Lanka’s art, design and cultural hemispheres with key art personalities, while seamlessly blending together themes from ‘Art & Design of Ismeth Raheem’ regarding the life, works and multidisciplinary artistry of Ismeth Raheem across his six-decade career.

Text by Namalee Siriwardhane