Image Courtesy | Saskia Fernando Gallery

Arjuna Gunarathne is a Sri Lankan visual artist who has been based in London for almost 20 years. With an expansive knowledge of his craft and a nuanced understanding of a wide variety of artistic mediums and styles, he has established himself in the global art world for his vibrantly expressive and poignantly critical paintings. His work has been featured in global publications such as The A-Z of Conflict (2019), and has exhibited in art spaces in London, Austria, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and more around the world. ARTRA had the opportunity to speak to Arjuna about the nuances of his craft, his experiences from learning visual art techniques in art schools across Sri Lanka, Pakistan and London, as well as his core appreciation of visual art as a form of storytelling– his art wielded as a means to document life, to unravel and share not only his own experiences as a Sri Lankan immigrant, but also the universal truths of the disenfranchised. 

Q | What are some of your influences when it comes to art?

In my art career, I would say my academic journey has been one of the most significant influences on how I approach art. I’ve been drawing and painting since childhood and it was always my favourite subject in school. Even today, it’s become common practice for me to draw every day. I’ve studied in numerous art schools around the world, and through that learned a variety of styles. I joined the Vibhavi Fine Arts Academy in Colombo after I exhibited in my first solo exhibition back in the mid-1990s. Later in 2003, I won the South Asia Foundation Scholarship at Beaconhouse National University in Lahore, Pakistan. It was in Pakistan that I studied the traditional style of Mughal miniature painting. I was presented with a rare opportunity to learn the style and it has had a huge impact on the art I create. You can trace the influence of Mughal miniature painting in practically every painting I do. It’s incredibly sensitive work and the process of rendering the imagery involved is very time-consuming and requires a high level of drawing skill. Across my 12 months of study in Pakistan, I completed only 6 paintings in this style! 

After my time in Pakistan, I studied in the Royal Drawing School, London. The Royal Drawing School completely transformed my understanding of global art. I was exposed to a wide variety of art– Dutch paintings, Impressionist works, Japanese, Indian and Chinese art styles and principles. It was a very multifaceted experience, I dived deeply into British art grammar and principles like colour and mark-making but also delved into art history and critique. I began to understand the structures behind painting, and that profoundly impacted my understanding of my own craft. Now when I create art, I like to blend Eastern, Western, academic forms and non-academic styles and structures. I don’t stick to a certain style because my style is a reflection of everything I’ve learned. I tend to use a mix of classical mediums like watercolour, oil, pastels and inks and new mediums like pigment pens, markers and oil sticks. I strive to create a universal meaning in my art.

Q | When did you leave Sri Lanka? What is your connection with the country like today? 

I came to the UK in 2005. My parents, relatives and friends are all still living in Sri Lanka. I kept in touch with them and became familiar with Sri Lanka's disastrous problems. My more political artworks were featured in 'The A -Z of Conflict' which is an artist book published by Raking Leaves. In that book, my artwork reflects my political views of Sri Lanka. Throughout the years, the political, economical and social situation in Sri Lanka has always been full of turmoil and strife. The country has moved from the 30 year civil war to the lows of economic crisis, and in my opinion there continues to be great injustice, corruption and instability in many levels of Sri Lankan social, political and educational structures.

Q | Tell me more about your most recent collection titled ‘Outline’ that displayed at the Saskia Fernando Gallery in Colombo.

My recent exhibition ‘Outline’ was held at the Saskia Fernando Gallery in Colombo. The works exhibited there focus on the migrant experience in the UK. These paintings were inspired by my experiences living in the UK as an immigrant and my conversations with many other migrants and refugees. This collection delves into the experiences of loneliness, alienation and othering that are unfortunately commonly felt by immigrants overseas, and visually translates the universal community that can arise from that hardship.

I strongly believe that art has the power to document. The experience of being an immigrant means you have to work very hard for the life you’re trying to build for yourself and your family. Sometimes that means you miss out on family moments– it’s why you can so often find my children in my artworks. I paint them as often as I can. All the experiences of my life organically inform the paintings I create. I draw and paint what I have lived through for the people who may be experiencing similar things. I feel it is important to document that.

Q | Can you see a difference in the art you were making in Sri Lanka versus now in London? 

The art I practised in Sri Lanka was mainly focused on the social, political and cultural objectives within Sri Lankan society. In a way, I was using my art to respond to the environment around me. At the time, I used painting, installation art and mixed media works to express myself– a smaller range of mediums. Working in the UK has exposed me to a lot of new and different practices in the community. It challenged me to look at myself as a global citizen of the world, to adapt new perspectives into my art and to enhance my creativity in a wonderful manner. The art society in London is a rather large, interesting and vivid community of creatives, artists and collectives and I’ve been fortunate to have had many opportunities to work with inspirational and powerful art professionals so far.

Arjuna Gunarathne is a visual artist from Sri Lanka who is currently based in North London. He was educated in the miniature tradition at Beaconhouse National University, Pakistan. In 2018, Gunarathne attended the Drawing Year Postgraduate program at the Royal Drawing School in London. As an avid student of diverse visual arts practices, Gunarathne blends Eastern and Western traditions to create a unique visual language. His work has been featured alongside fellow graduates of the Royal Drawing School at Christie’s in London in celebration of the coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Gunarathne has held solo exhibitions in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, and his work is part of the Royal Art Collection in the UK. He has been featured in The A-Z of Conflict and exhibited at the Museum of Ethnology in Austria and the fourth Dhaka Art Summit in Bangladesh. In 2022, Gunarathne showcased his work at Saskia Fernando Gallery with an exhibition titled ‘Within Boundaries'. In May 2024, Gunarathne’s works were displayed at the Saskia Fernando Gallery for his exhibition titled ‘Outline’. 

Written by Kavinu Cooray