Saskia Fernando Gallery (SFG) has concluded its presentation of the late Dr. H. A. Karunaratne (1929-2026) at Frieze Masters, held at The Regent’s Park from 14 to 18 October.
The gallery is the first from Sri Lanka to be invited to the fair, and Karunaratne is only the second Sri Lankan artist shown there, after Lionel Wendt in 2014. 8 works from 1950 to 1970 were shown in the Spotlight section, curated by Dr Devika Singh and Dr. Sofia Gotti. They were drawn largely from the artist’s estate, and the family released many of the pre-1980s works for the first time.
Frieze London and Frieze Masters together welcomed 95,000 visitors from 108 countries and regions. Three works priced at $ 75,000 each were acquired by important international collectors. Karunaratne’s work is currently held by the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi and by museums in Fukuoka, Kamakura, Hayama, Himeji and Osaka, and the response in London extends that recognition to a wider international audience.
The presentation was supported by LYNEAR Wealth Management, whose partnership also funds the archival documentation, provenance research and scholarship that give collectors confidence to buy. The project was also supported by the British High Commission in Sri Lanka as part of UK-Sri Lanka cultural and economic engagement.
Saskia Fernando Gallery Founder Saskia Fernando said: ‘In any art market, value rests on more than the work itself: documentation, provenance, and consistent presentation give buyers the confidence to pay serious prices. A partnership focused on that groundwork is working on the foundations of a market, not only on a transaction.’
LYNEAR Wealth Strategy and Growth Nabiha Mohamed said: ‘Our aim is to give our clients, and the wider public, meaningful ways to engage with Sri Lankan art, through the research, scholarship and international platforms that allow it to be understood and valued. At LYNEAR, we see the stewardship of capital and culture as part of the same long-term responsibility. The response to Karunaratne’s work in London has been deeply encouraging and strengthens our commitment to Sri Lanka’s thriving art ecosystem.’
The result arrives as the global art market returns to growth, with aggregate sales of an estimated $ 59.6 billion in 2025, up 4% on the previous year, according to the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report 2026.
It follows Christie’s recent sale of Ivan Peries’ The Well (1957) for $ 640,000, an auction record for a Sri Lankan-born artist, which showed that international buyers will pay serious prices for Sri Lankan modernism. Together with Karunaratne’s reception in London, it points to a wider reappraisal of South Asian modernist art.
Fernando and LYNEAR Wealth are clear that one fair does not make a market. Lasting value will depend on museum acquisitions, international retrospectives and steady secondary-market demand, and SFG intends to pursue all three over the coming years.