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VAJIRA GUNAWARDENA

Latest Activity

Vajira Gunawardena updated their profile Dec 7, 2011

Marta Graciela Bressi and Vajira Gunawardena are now friends Aug 23, 2011

Profile Information

Website: http://www.vajiragunawardena.com

Relationship status: married

College / University: University of the Visual Arts & Performing Arts - Sri Lanka

Graduation: November 8, 1971

Member type: Artist

If you're an artist, what kind of art do you make?: Drawing, Painting

I am...: I am Vajira Gunawardena a professional artist. Working from my studio in Weliveriya, I paint with Oil, Acrylics and any medium in a predominately neo expressionist style and close to art brut, Graffiti images. I took part in numerous exhibitions, international camps and commission works in the past ten years. Some of my works are now getting international exposure in USA, Australia, Holland and France and represented several private and public collections in Sri Lanka.

SOLO EXHIBITION

2008- “DREAM FACTORY” Drawings Exhibition at the Alliance Françoise De Colombo –SRI LANKA

2008- “THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF THE PERFECTLY ORDINARY” Art Exhibition at the Mieke Kooistra’s Residence Place in Colombo - SRI LANKA

2007- “THE DREAM FACTORY” Art Exhibition at the Barefoot Gallery in Colombo - SRI LANKA

2005- “MY RECENT PAINTINGS” Art Exhibition at the Paradise Road Gallery in Colombo – SRI LANKA

2001- “GAP2001” Art Exhibition at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery in Colombo – SRI LANKA

GROUP AND PARTICIPATION (SELECTED)

2008- “ARTFUL RESISTANCE: CRISIS AND CREATIVITY IN SRI LANKA” Contemporary Art Exhibition in Europe, organized by The Serandib Gallery, Colombo and Museum of Ethnology Vienna – Austria

2008- “CONTEMPORARY ART IN SRI LANKA” the Group Exhibition of Visual Arts, the Gallery Art Korner – NETHERLANDS

2007- “WHERE, WHO, HOW, WHAT AND WHEN” the Group Exhibition of Visual Arts, Barefoot Gallery in Colombo – SRI LANKA

2007- “NAWA KALAKAROWO” Visual Art Biennale Sri Lanka, Organized by the George Keyt Foundation, the National Art Gallery in Colombo – SRI LANKA

2007- “VISUAL ART BIENNALE SRI LANKA” Art Exhibition, Organized by the Ministry Of Cultural Affairs, the National Art Gallery in Colombo - SRI LANKA

2006- “12TH ASIAN ART BIENNALE BANGLADESH 2006” Exhibition in Dhaka – BANGLADESH

2006- “FEB” the Group Exhibition of Visual Arts, Barefoot Gallery in Colombo – SRI LANKA

2004- “YOUNG CONTEMPORARY” Art Exhibition, Organized by the George Keyt Foundation, The Harold Peiris Art Gallery in Colombo - SRI LANKA

2003- “SCULPTORS AND PAINTERS 2003” Art Exhibition, Organized by the George Keyt Foundation, Harold Peiris Art Gallery in Colombo - SRI LANKA

2003- “NAWA KALAKARUWO” Tenth Annual Exhibition, Organized by the George Keyt Foundation, the Harold Peiris Art Gallery in Colombo - SRI LANKA

2001- “SCULPTORS AND PAINTERS 2001” the Art Exhibition, Organized by the George Keyt Foundation, National Art Gallery in Colombo - SRI LANKA

2001- “NATIONAL ART FESTIVAL” the Art Exhibition, Organized by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, National Art Gallery, Colombo – SRI LANKA

2000- “ALTERNATIVE DREAM” the Group Art Exhibition, Arlen Art and Craft Gallery in Colombo - SRI LANKA

2000- “YOUNG CONTEMPORARY” the Art Exhibition, Organized by the George Keyt Foundation, National Art Gallery in Colombo – SRI LANKA

INTERNATIONAL CAMPS

2002- “INTERNATIONAL ARTIST CAMP” - Organized by the George Keyt Foundation, THE Village Habarana – SRI LANKA

2001- “INTERNATIONAL ARTIST CAMP” - Organized by the George Keyt Foundation, The Village Habarana – SRI LANKA

2000- “ART WITHOUT FRONTIERS” ARTIST CAMP- Organized by the George Keyt Foundation, the Village Habarana – SRI LANKA

GRANTS & AWARDS RECEIVED

1991-FIRST PLACE, “NATIONAL HEROES DAY” Art Competition Organized by Minister of Cultural Affairs of SRI LANKA

1992-“NATIONAL YOUTH AWARD" National Youth Award Festival, Organized by National Youth Council of SRI LANKA

1989- FIRST PLACE, “NATIONAL ATHLETIC DAY” the Art Competition, Organized by Ministry of Athletic and National Youth Council Center in SRI LANKA

COMMUNITY PROJECTS & SERVICES

2004 - Project on the Contraction of Terra Cotta Muriel at the BROTHERS of CHARITY “NISANSALA” Ja-Ela, SRI LANKA

2002 - Commissioned by the CENTER FOR SOCIETY AND RELIGION to Create a “MONUMENT FOR PEACE” Fr. MAICAL RODRIGUO MEMORIAL PLACE in Memory of The Victims of Political Violence and Human Rights Abuse in BUTHTHALA – SRI LANKA

2000 - Joint Project on the Construction of Monument at the FATIMA CHURCH for 50 Th Anniversary Colombo - SRI LANKA

PUBLICATIONS & MEDIA

2008- “PANAMA” TV INTERVIEW PROGRAMME, Young Asia Television Network, TNL TV

2008- “THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF THE PERFECTLY ORDINARY” Friday Life, Page C / DAILY MIRROR NEWS PAPER/ May 30 –MIEKE KOOISTRA

2008- “SPRINGING OUT OF THE ORDINARY” Art scope, Page 14 / DAILY NEWS PAPER/ June 04 – MIEKE KOOISTRA

2008- “DREAM FACTORY” Exhibition Catalogue – ANURA SRIWARNASINGHE, MIEKE KOOISTRA & JEAN-PHILIPPE ROY

2006- “PANAMA” TV INTERVIEW PROGRAMME, Young Asia Television Network, TNL TV

2007- “WHERE, WHO, HOW, WHAT AND WHEN” Exhibition Catalogue

2006- “ARTEKA” TV ART PROGRAMME / FEB Exhibition, SIRASA TV

2005- “VIMASUMA” Art News, Page 12 / LANKADHPA NEWS PAPER / March 06 – ANURA SRIWARNASINGHE

2005- “COLOURS OF THE CONSUMED” Art News, Page 06 / THE SUNDAY TIMES NEWS PAPER / March 06 – RANDIMA ATTYGALLE

2005- “MY RECENT PAINTINGS” Exhibition Catalogue – ANURA SRIWARNASINGHE

2001- “GAP 2001” Exhibition Catalogue – ANURA SRIWARNASINGHE

COLLECTIONS

The Paradise Road Collection, Colombo - SRI LANKA
The Barefoot Gallery Collection, Colombo - SRI LANKA
The Serandib Gallery Collection, Colombo - SRI LANKA
Mrs. Shehara de Silva Collection - SRI LANKA
Mr. Hans Monhemius Collection - SRI LANKA
Mr. Ivan Robinson Collection - SRI LANKA
Mr. / Mrs. Anneke Hihermann Collection – SRI LANKA
Mr. Yves Alain Corporeau Collection – FRANCE
Mr. R. Byron Breese Collection – USA
Miss. Marie Rostek Collection – AUSTRALIA
Mrs. Mieke Kooistra Collection – HOLLAND
Mrs. Petra bosse Collection – HOLLAND

REPRESENTED IN SEVERAL PRIVATE AND PUBLIC COLLECTION IN SRI LANKA & ABROAD

Vajira Gunawardena
vajiragunawardena@yahoo.com

About my artwork: Often I ask to my self. I all seek in many ways, a perfectly ordinary day-to-day life. It is a fantasy in Human being. However the idea of “Perfectly Ordinary Daily Life” is derived from a narrow perspective drawn from a very limited point of recognition. Perhaps the Idea of the “Perfectly Ordinary Daily Life” becomes a blissful blindfold of which to spend our daily lives quietly. It is because of this, the “Unordinary or Abnormalities” that boils under the surface of everyday life threatens to become neglected. However, it is through art that the “Unordinary or Abnormalities” of the world emerge. Art is the gleam in the thick of darkness or the shadow in the light of day.

My work focuses on my need to intersect body and place, memory and fact to re-examine human histories, cultural conditions, and events. I use my own life and that of people around him as a point of departure to explore society’s obsession with materialism, instant gratification and our inability to confront the growing of human insensibility in the world that surrounds us.

My works have been followed endless discussions on the deferential thematic topics in top of philosophical moment. I WILL LOVE YOU ON SUNDAY, MASTER BEDROOM, ENJOYMENT, LIPSTICK, LATE TOMORROW, THE CROWN, WINDOW SHOPPING, IF ON THE FORSAKEN LAND’S A TRAVELER, READY MADE HERO,NO WHERE TO RUN, LOVERS,SELF – PORTRAIT. I create art in order to document issues that are important to me. I respond to subject matter that range from daily occurrences in the media to more mundane aspects of life that are often taken for granted. I am interested in topical issues from the political and culture spheres, as well as social conditions that comment on human existence.

I work instinctively and intuitively. Spontaneity and experimentation play key roles in my creative process and I continuously edit my work until a unified composition and narrative emerges. Over the course of time, the pairing of disparate images and text collected from magazines, old children’s books, encyclopedias, pamphlets, brochures, flyers and other such sources of information, helps me recontextualize the ideas of various social behavioral patterns. What are seen in my creations are exceptionally disfigured human figures, heroes with exceptionally enlarged sexual organs, Sri Lankan materialistic fantasy, new individualism, market force, television, Consumer Goods and the figures of popular commodities in the urban life as chosen Signs with Text and word of commercial myth; I make an attempt to express my emotions of the contemporary social environment. The presentation is going to be as a visual diary. It depicts the external struggle of a contemporary Sri Lankan personality who was born in this culture.

Art is a bunch of concepts. I have developed artistic space and form with different scales on the same background. Through this I hope to express the complexities and differences of human relations. Along with brilliant color, most of my motif tries to develop or engender a deep psychological meaning based on social crisis. It has become over time a metaphor of our human existence and lifestyle - lifestyles that are not just fragmented, but are the mix of the thousands of images that leave pieces of impressions on our visual psyche as we race through a day. The shapes are organic and remixed with cartoon; remnants of life forms expressing a mystery of the incomplete and what remains to come all immersed in sexual satire. In an on going attempt to understand how color and shapes are "read" by the conscious and subconscious, I add tension. The tension (placement) between shapes and color in a composition is important in all my pieces no matter in which medium I choose to work. So, to identify my paintings as mirror reflections of these social upheavals seems to be a correct definition to my works of art.

Centre of the artworld:: my studio, online

http://www.facebook.com/vajira.gunawardena?ref=mf&highlight#Account%20Info

Dear Friends! You can join my FCBook. follow this link.

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At 2:22am on September 10, 2009, Marta Graciela Bressi said…: Dear Vajira,

Check out.:http://www.freewebs.com/mindsofglass/

Regards

Marta

At 10:46am on April 21, 2009, vera goulart said…: hi ! VAJIRA...! i am live in switzeland !.. IF YOU COME ONE DAY ...PLEASE make comtact!... and come my home too!...nice meet you ! the best ENERGIE FOR YOU !!!!......

At 1:43pm on April 20, 2009, vera goulart said…: wondefull VAJIRA !... i sad : I WAS IN SKRI LANKA FOR THREE MONTHS!... but i will again !.... INXALA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!¨GOOD HELPE ME !!!!... AND I WILL COMTACT YOU ... in between, i wisch you a good luck in your new exhibitions...we keep comtact in artreview and mail!.... thanks for your generous mail !...nice meet you !......... i am sorry my englisch !!:.¨i say before wrong word!....... i say i still live three months!........... i WAS IN SKRI LANKA !... ALL BEST !!!!!!!!!..www.goulart.ch

At 1:39pm on April 19, 2009, vera goulart said…: hi ! ...VAJIRA !!!!!!!!!¨¨ how are you ?... very nice WORK !....SKRI LANKA ?.WONDERFULL CONTRY!
.. i still live three months!........................nice meet you!

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