`EMERGENCY’ an exhibition of art by three emerging artists Kavan Balasuriya, Vinith Chathuranga and Mayantha Perera is currently held at Paradise Road Galleries, The Gallery Café, 2 Alfred House Road, Colombo 3. The exhibition will go on till September 18 and will be open to the public 10am to midnight daily.
Highlighting the works of three emerging artists identified over the past twelve months, the exhibition will be an annual presentation whereby young artists whose works are changing the direction of the local contemporary art movement are exhibited in a group show. Whether working in or originating from Sri Lanka, these artists are challenging the trends that we use to define particular moments in time. The exhibition is curated by Udayshanth Fernando and Saskia Fernando.
Kavan Balasuriya is an artist whose work explores connections across South and South-East Asia, regions from which he traces a direct cultural heritage. In order to link these regions, he examines iconography found in religion and traditional cultures. Kavan’s pictures investigate how the themes of identity and conflict relate to spiritual and physical displacement. The artist is also influenced in terms of form by textile design cultures shared across the Asian subcontinent. His research looks into correlations between traditional weaving discourses and socio-political realities. Repeated, modular units have long been a feature of Kavan’s work and he continues to research the mythos of craft-practices to deepen this element of his practice. Vinith Chathuranga is a graduate of the University of Visual and Performing Arts. His large format oil paintings represent the artist’s dedication to the use of a traditional medium in an effort to create ‘l'art pour l’art’. The theme central to his first series of work discusses a concept of collapsism; the unseen side of images hidden behind form and object in his compositions symbolizing narratives relating to both political critique and a commentary on the nature of contemporary art market.
Mayantha Perera is a currently a student of the University of Visual and Performing Arts. In this series of work the artist’s works with oils on small figurative paintings presenting scene taken from the artist's own experiences. The images are of an intense nature that is intended to unsettle; dark scenes presenting ragging, undressing amongst others. The intensity of the images is enhanced by the strength of the artist’s portrayal of his subjects as well as the technique of painting light onto each depiction.
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