PRIYANTHA UDAGEDARA

Transcription

1 PRIYANTHA UDAGEDARA

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3 PRIYANTHA UDAGEDARA Sri Lanka has long been represented as a paradise on earth. The notion of the island as paradisiacal dates back at least to Horace Walpole s 1754 letter coining the term serendipity, from Serendib, an old word for this tropical island. Thus, Sri Lanka became associated with good fortune and the making of chance acquaintances or discoveries. In classic Orientalist texts, Ceylon or Sri Lanka tended to be seen as an exotic, magical zone, sometimes known as the Pearl of the Orient. This sort of language lives on today in tourist brochures and in popular imagining of an island studded with deserted beaches, elephants, tea plantations, and languid games of cricket. However, ethnic conflict of course scars this paradise and, even since the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009, there remain stark divisions between the main groups: Sinhalese, Tamils, and Muslims. Having lived his early years in an apparently peaceful Sri Lanka, and then witnessing the eruption of the conflict from 1983 onwards, has crucially shaped Dr Priyantha Udagedara s artistic practice. Through his paintings, he subtly puts forward a simultaneously humanist and a nonspeciesist message. By integrating Sri Lanka s flora and fauna into his works, with the plastic flowers often used to commemorate the dead or the disappeared, and with human figures whose skin is flayed, Udagedara creates work of a Yeatsian terrible beauty. Sri Lanka and its inhabitants are often viewed as amongst the world s most beautiful, peaceful places and peoples, but civil unrest and war has created just the opposite: violence, bloodshed and ugliness. It is unsurprising, then, that one of Udagedara s previous painting series was entitled Paradise Lost. Yet in his new series, Udagedara moves on to explore Sri Lankan society s attempts to heal while still being cast in terms of a romantic island. He also explores the palimpsestic layers of religions, languages, cultures, and Western/Eastern influences that co-exist uneasily in Sri Lanka. In so doing, his art becomes a call to action in creating a new society in which difference is accepted, reconciliation may be achieved, and various faiths and worldviews are tolerated. In addition to his early works of mixed medium, Udagedara also here introduces recent incursions into watercolour, a medium often derided for its twee, chocolate-box tendencies. Yet even in this most gentle and mannered of paints, Udagedara again creates an almost collage-like layering of disparate objects, with fronds, mythical animals and teardrop-like smudges rubbing up against each other. His colour palette may be more muted than the earlier works, but the subject matter is equally as uncompromising and haunting as before. Dr Claire Chambers Department of English and Related Literature University of York United Kingdom

4 Paradise Lost I, 2011, mixed media on canvas, 152 x 109cm

5 Paradise Lost II, 2011, mixed media on canvas, 152 x 109cm (x2)

6 Paradise Lost III, 2011, mixed media on canvas, 101 x 76cm (x2)

7 Paradise Lost IV, 2011, mixed media on canvas, 76 x 76cm (x6)

8 The Lost Heart, 2012, mixed media on board, 75 x 75cm

9 Paradise Lost V, 2011, mixed media on canvas, 101 x 76cm (x2)

10 No Land for Angels I, 2011, mixed media on board, 40 x 30cm

11 No Land for Angels II, 2011, mixed media on board, 40 x 30cm

12 No Land for Angels III, 2011, mixed media on board, 40 x 30cm

13 Adam, 2012, mixed media on board, 75 x 75cm

14 Super Hybrid I, 2013, watercolour on paper, 64 x 50cm

15 Super Hybrid II, 2013, watercolour on paper, 64 x 50cm

16 Super Hybrid III, 2013, watercolour on paper, 38 x 57cm

17 Super Hybrid IV, 2013, watercolour on paper, 38 x 57cm

18 Super Hybrid V, 2013, watercolour on paper, 30 x 38cm

19 Super Hybrid VI, 2013, watercolour on paper, 38 x 57cm

20 Super Hybrid VIII, 2013, watercolour on paper, 64 x 50cm No Land for Angels IV, 2011, mixed media on board, 40 x 30cm

21 Super Hybrid VII, 2013, watercolour on paper, 30 x 38cm

22 PRIYANTHA UDAGEDARA b.1975 Education 2013 PhD in Contemporary Fine Art Practice. Faculty of Arts, Environment & Technology, Leeds Metropolitan xxxxxxx University, UK 2007 Masters of Art, Contemporary Fine Art Practice (Merit) Leeds Metropolitan University, UK 2003 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Institute of Aesthetic Studies University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka Solo Exhibitions 2014 Priyantha Udagedara- Works from 2010 to 2014, The Norman Rea Gallery, York, UK 2013 Paradise Lost, Lace Market Gallery, Nottingham, UK 2013 Paradise Lost, Colorida Galeria De Arte E Design LDA, Lisbon, Portugal 2012 Paradise Lost, Broadcasting Place Gallery, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK 2010 Exhibition of Painting, Paradise Road Galleries, Colombo, Sri Lanka 2007 MA Degree Show, 6th floor H Building, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK 2006 Exhibition of Paintings, Paradise Road Galleries, Colombo, Sri Lanka 2004 Exhibition of Paintings, Barefoot Galleries, Colombo, Sri Lanka 2003 Exhibition of Paintings, Paradise Road Galleries, Colombo, Sri Lanka Group Exhibitions 2014 Summer Dance, Breese Little Gallery, London. UK 2014 Emergency, Breese Little Gallery, London, UK 2014 Opening Exhibition 2014, Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka 2009 Leeds Art Fair, The Light, UK 2007 Situation Leeds, Leeds, UK 2007 Interim, Leeds Metropolitan MA exhibition, old BBC building, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK 2005 An exhibition of Sri Lankan & Australian artists,the Cross Art Project, Sydney, Australia 2004 International Artist Camp, Habarana, Sri Lanka 2003 Gangcey of Sri Lanka, Lalith Kala Academy Gallery, New Delhi, India 2004 Gap Zero 3, The Lionel Wendt Art Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka 2004 Young Contemporaries, George Keyt Foundation, Harold Pieris Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka 2002 Young Contemporaries, George Keyt Foundation, At the National Art Gallery Colombo, Sri Lanka 2002 Sri Lanka Kala Mandalaya, National Art Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka

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24 41 Horton Place, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka T