‘Dreamcatchers’ exhibition next week

Dreamcatchers, an exhibition of paintings by Teruni Wikramanayake and Asela Abeywardene and sculpture by Gayan Gunasekara, will be held on 21 and 22 July at the Lionel Wendt.

The exhibition will be the first public showcase of the artists’ work, all three of whom are students of renowned Prof. Sarath Chandrajeewa.

Commenting on the rationale behind the exhibition, Asela said: “This exhibition will be very different from what people would have seen before. All three of us have, in our own styles, tried to capture things which cannot be seen in reality so the pieces seem more like dreams. However, as artists we also dream of creating great art and through our work we are chasing that dream; hence Dreamcatchers.”

Both Asela and Teruni will be showcasing 25 of their paintings, alongside 10 sculptures from Gayan. However each artist’s work, whilst drawing from common themes, will display highly distinctive styles.

Teruni’s paintings are based in an abstract, freeform style of painting, with a strong focus on the use of vibrant colour to convey emotion, whereas Asela’s pieces strive towards capturing the human condition through a more structured, artistic approach.

Meanwhile, Gayan’s pieces are focused on creating three-dimensional portraits of famous artists, interpreted in the context of their own art and emotional experiences.

“Some artists choose to paint landscapes or other scenes from their experiences, but we strive to capture that which the human eye cannot see. The three of us are choosing to express ourselves in this way because we are driven by our passion for art. We created our art without really having an audience in mind. The pieces are based totally on our own personalities and I hope that this will be an aspect of our art with which others can connect with as well,” Asela explained.

The exhibition will be open to the public on 21 and 22 July and the artists encourage all those who are intrigued by stylistic representations of human emotion to join them at the Lionel Wendt.