L.L. Manura Alwis represents Sri Lanka at Red Bull Doodle Art Global Gallery

• L.L. Manura Alwis from the National School of Business and Management (NSBM) wins Sri Lanka’s Red Bull Doodle Art National Gallery and will represent Sri Lanka at the Red Bull Doodle Art Global Gallery in July 

 On 12 May, the quirky Rio Cinema held the Sri Lankan National Finals of Red Bull Doodle Art with over 600 attendees ranging from friends, family, art enthusiasts, media and other creative minds. Out of the 538 doodles that were received for the Red Bull Doodle Art project in Sri Lanka this year, the top 157 doodles were displayed at the National Finals showcase. It was from this 157, that Red Bull Doodle Art crowned its Sri Lankan representative for the Global Gallery held in July — L.L. Manura Alwis. 

Manura, the National Winner of Red Bull Doodle Art, Sri Lanka had this to say about his journey to the Finals, “My journey to this moment has been a surreal experience. I submitted my doodle last minute and just wanted my work on display nothing else. I was inspired by Disney movies, where my head settled on Sleeping Beauty. In my story, Sleeping Beauty did not wake up with a kiss from a prince but by a Red Bull. I’m delighted the judges picked me and saw my personality through my doodle. This experience has taught me anything is possible and I can’t wait for the Global Gallery.” 

The winners, 1st place: L.L. Manura Alwis (NSBM), 2nd Place: Dinuka Amarakoon (UOM) and 3rd Place: Yashara Wickramasurendra (AMDT) were judged by Joe Lenora (Founder and Head of Design at We Are Designers) Chani Perera (Group Head at Dentsu Grant and owner of Riot House) and Rommel Arumugam (Art Director at Collective Global) who brought a diverse range of insights and opinion to the judging table, debating the style and creativity of each doodle before naming L.L. Manura Alwis the national winner. The judges were happy with the doodles that showed ingenuity and new styles where personalities and identities were starting to show through. “It’s great to see Red Bull Doodle Art supporting the arts and helping to build this platform and we can’t wait to see what Manura is going to learn and accomplish,” said Joe Lenora. 

The 2017 edition of this global project will see finalists from over 40 countries join together in a yet to be confirmed location for the Global Finals which will include a virtual reality experience where winners will be coached on how to up level their 3D artistic skills and create their final piece of art by painting in 3D. The final masterpieces will be exhibited at a Global Virtual Gallery, where art lovers can fully experience doodles in virtual reality from around the world! 

To follow L.L. Manura Alwis’s journey to the Global Gallery, follow @redbull_sl and #RedBullDoodleArt.