Kumar Rathnayaka is well-known among artists of all calibres and has not looked back since he commenced his artistic career many years ago. Rathnayaka who comes from a rural background has become a popular name among artists due to his exceptional works of art.
His exhibition Invisible Truth – Art Exhibition will be held at the Lionel Wendt Art today (17), 18 and 19 February.
Inspired by nature and the surrounding environment, complete with trees and foliage in a home in Pasyala, is an artist that uses green as his dominant colour. His interest in painting started from his childhood days when he picked up his easel and started painting.
He is known to do the impossible with the brush and has exhibited his paintings around the world. Rathnayaka whose paintings are hung in centres across the globe has exhibited and sold his work in Bangladesh, England, Germany, Maldives, Philippines, Sweden, Austria and the Netherlands among others.
Watching him at work at his art gallery in Pasyala, mixing colours on his palette and canvas, would amaze anyone interested in the subject. His colours include blues of the surface ranging from aqua to turquoise, orange, yellow, red and of course the creepy blacks and greys along with royal purple among others.
Rathnayaka plays with these colours, in a way that one can hardly imagine, until he has got that perfect masterpiece of what’s bursting in his mind. Once on canvas the rest is history, for an artiste that claims many years in the fields and a subject that he loves to engage in. Be it abstract or any other painting, the artistic talent of this artist is clearly visible in every completed work of art.
He says that he is vastly influenced by the environment he comes from and this is the result of his paintings. His brush strokes are unique and impressive and his name is among the top few contemporary artistes. His ability to try different strokes when painting has made his paintings that much more valuable for the art lover and buyer.
His talent just like his brush has no limit when it starts moving on canvas. When he starts he doesn’t stop until he has got that perfect finish that satisfies not only him but also those interested in creating works of art. Rathnayaka is what he is today because of his undying commitment to the field of art and his imagination to do the unthinkable.
His massive collection of paintings can be seen in his gallery in Pasyala when they are not on display at an art exhibition. One massive artwork done with an ekel broom stands out among the rest, at his gallery in Pasyala, a stunning masterpiece worth seeing.
Not many artists would try their hands at painting with the ekel broom. But for Rathnayaka experimenting with new methods and being adventurous is his forte and one that he will continue to do right until the end.
A contemporary artist cannot be influenced by nature because there is no method to follow. But Rathnayaka paints within the framework of inner imagination and depth. There is poetry in his art that only those genuinely interested in the subject can point out.
Rathnayaka turns complex ideas, thoughts and perceptions into multi-faceted lines often in bright colours. With no limit to the colours he uses, Rathnayaka makes sure that every work of art is different from one another, thereby making every masterpiece one of a kind.
What stands out is the manifestation of his personality through his remarkable creations, which are universal at one level and truly Sri Lankan at another level.
By Risidra Mendis
