Genesis meaning ‘the formation of something new’ is an art exhibition show casing the works of five female artists. The artists who come together with diverse backgrounds will feature five unique themes of expressions and views.
The works will be displayed at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery from May 27-29.
May 27, preview from 6.00 pm -9.00 pm and 10.00 am till 8.00 pm on May 28th and 29th.
The exhibition is sponsored by Art Cart, the online art store (artcart.lk) and Alindaya.
Peshala Premathilake is a full-time artist who has showcased her art in international exhibitions and galleries that include mediums such as acrylic colours, charcoal, pastel, pencil, pen and so on.
Peshala is a graduate of the University of Visual and Performing Arts in Colombo. Her theme ‘talking petals’ describes her views and emotions of the language of painting in petal brush strokes inspired from nature such as flower petals and textures which has resulted in her signature style of experiments with paint. Peshala has exhibited her work both in the country as well as internationally.
Thilini de Simon is an accountant by profession and has a MA in Sociology and a diploma in Counselling Psychology. Her passion in art as a child allowed her to master the skills from the Cora Abraham Art School and later get her formal training at Chelsea College of Art and Design, UK (course in portfolio art) and Vibhavi Academy of Fine Art (VAFA).
Her objective through her works is to share the beauty of human experiences. For the Genesis exhibition she has chosen the theme ‘invisible justice’ which portray her thoughts, emotions and feelings about the Easter Day 2019.
She has used the backpack as an object to portray that day in history and the injustice caused and the invisible justice that is met.
Ishara Karriyapperuma is an art tutor at a remote school. She completed her Bachelor of visual arts at the University of Visual and Performing Arts, Colombo.
Ishara who is experiencing a loss in her eye sight considers ‘Genes’ is as a birth to new sight. She began to study the works of artists such as, Wang Chi Mutu and Odilon Redon for her work.
With regard to the theme of “Genesis”, marks the birth of her spectacle friend. She also brings through these designs the inconveniences she had with her loss of sight and the gratitude she feels for her spectacles.
Is currently living in Sri Lanka and is enjoying every bit of it. She has been interested in art and nature for a very long time. She feels that they cannot be separated. It was about four years back that she made a more serious decision to follow her dream and a result of that is this maiden art exhibition – Genesis. She feels that creativity takes courage which she feels that she probably did not have - she was diffident at the start. “The same amount of time is allocated to everyone each day.
What we choose to do with our time defines us” - with this thought she keeps painting daily if she possibly can.
She uses acrylic paints and when the painting is completed, she uses an oil varnish to bring out the brightness. She says that to be creative means to be in love with life. “You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it , a little more poetry to it , a little more dance to it”.
“Dreams wait patiently for us to move into them and become them”.
Has completed her Bachelors of Fine Art (special) with a second class upper at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Visual and Performing Arts, Colombo.
She has selected ‘Fantasy art of remembrance’ as her theme. She is inspired by the specific artworks of surrealist painters like Rene Magritte, Hieronymus Bosch, Marc Chagall and Salvador Dali.
Also, the films namely Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Giant peach (1996) and Harry Potter 1(2001), 2(2002), 3(2004), has given her immense motivation for her art works.
The stories, fantasy dreams woven around dolls of her sister’s and hers were illustrated in her own way in these paintings. She has won many art competitions and was the recipient of the A. C. G. S. Amaraseka scholarship for Life Painting, in 2014.
The J. D. A. Perera scholarship for Painting Composition, 2014, awarded in the international art competition - Fine Art Department, Chandigarh University India, 2002, Special Merit Award in the State Art and Sculpture Festival, 2018, Special Merit Award in the National Water Safety Week Open Poster Competition, 2010 and the Harry Peris Award in the all-island competition, 2011.