The Forest Painting

Surreal geometry and vibrant patterns are the subject of Kasun Wickramasinghe’s paintings. The artist sees himself as a merger of “abstract trends with natural concepts” and represents the world through a large kaleidoscope. Through Kasun’s paintings he has developed a close kinship with the natural world, and visualizes it mythically, beautifully and expressively. The inner world of dreams and cultural memory is made to contend with utopic patterns and textures. These graphically striking images allow the physicality of nature to reveal itself. Working with acrylics, oils and mixed media, Kasun employs a bold color palette and fluid style to capture the essence of his world. He confesses his great obsession with vibrant colors and the playing of light and shadow. “My paintings are characterized with contemporary and conceptual ideas highlighting natural trends” says Kasun. These conceptual ideas are enhanced by his skill at rendering lifelike figures with his sharp eye for manipulating proportion and scale and abstracting it. His work transforms standard notions of realism into a uniquely expressive form, while his utopic imagination rejuvenates the eye of the viewer with fresh color. Kasun’s paintings are perfectly proportioned and laid out across the canvas as he has included his knowledge of his first-class bachelor’s degree in painting, and the learning experiences as a freelance artist and lecturer at the University of Visual and Performing Arts. His meticulous geometrical measurements add symmetry to his paintings to add a sense of reality to such divine phenomena. They connote nature’s spiritual power and timelessness. The spontaneous gestural brush-strokes and mark-making leave an impression of the abstract expressionist within Kasun. As much as his work is truly abstract, it is also expressive and emotional. His inner impulses are splashed across the canvas in a spontaneous and improvisatory manner, while it is deeply rooted in spirituality and mythology. Simple compositions with large areas of color intend to produce a contemplative and a meditational response in the viewer. His work explores detailed and delicate lines that describe the essential harmony within nature and the universe. Instead of looking at a flower in its natural way, he sees the lines that make up the flower— and its symmetric placing in the universe. It’s this precision that makes this work unique.