Map of the Mind - IV Painting

VAJIRA GUNAWARDENA (Born 1971), is an SRI LANKAN awards winner painter who has been receiving a BFA degree at the state art school in Colombo. He has got twenty years of working experience in his realm. He has held many solo and group exhibitions locally and internationally, and it selected him for the many international artist camps and workshops. His works have many private and co-operate collections worldwide in the UK, USA, AUSTRALIA, HOLLAND, NETHERLANDS, FRANCE, SWEDEN, BELGIUM, CHINA, MALAYSIA, THAILAND, VIETNAM, PAKISTAN, DUBAI, INDIA, SINGAPORE, MALDIVES, ITALY, and SRI LANKA. Vajira’s paintings have a sociological mix of sensuous human emotions and autobiographical and critical quality. He works in a range of styles to create large-format, figurative semi-abstract paintings. It expressed his artwork according to some within the outsider movement ... while some say neo-expressionism with a cartoon influence. ARTIST WORD ON WORKS Internal human discourse has collapsed in the new global world of market society. I followed characters of living people in a contemporary material culture considered as symbolized human emotions. Each painting is following different moods. Through this, I hope to express the complexities and differences of the human condition. My paintings have on basic figure composition following my feelings open which images are autobiographical and sometimes they are of people. These characters are also the mix of the thousands of images that leave pieces of impressions on our visual psyche as we race through a day. These figures promote diversity, deconstruction, and the functioning of subconscious memories. I usually render human characters in the paintings in an expression that combines both madness and sophistication. My works addressed issues and questions about culture and identity is exploring human imperfections or unseen aspects of humanity. My figurative abstract art, like internal space, explores the furthest extremes of the human psyche. Subjectivity emerges as a concept embedded in notions of interrelatedness. Throughout my works, I placed abstract shapes in balance and dialogue with one another, expressing an essential impetus toward human connection. The blending and juxtaposition of various influences serve as a metaphor for the fragmented and multisensory nature of contemporary life. It purposed me to create a multi-dimensional work, treating both narrative and form as one.