Solo exhibition of watercolour paintings
 

Committed creative artist

EXHIBITION: A solo exhibition of watercolour paintings by Palitha Gunasinghe, the award winning artist and stamp designer, will be held at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery, Guildford Crescent, Colombo 7 from February 16 to 20.

Palitha Gunasinghe who has already displayed an astounding mastery over the medium has won awards at many a national and international art and stamp designing competition.

Among them are the State Award for the coveted prize for the best watercolour painting in 2003, Sri Lanka Art Society's 116th Art Exhibition - Best Watercolour Painting in 2004, and the Presidential Award for the Best Art watercolour in Shilpa 2004.

The stamp he designed for the Sarvodaya Movement in 1983 marked his initiation into stamp designing and subsequently he went to the Netherlands and Belgium to perfect his art. As of today he has secured many awards and accolades, both local and international through submission of paintings and stamp designs.

He has designed more than 80 postage stamps so far with different themes. He was the architect of the stamp designed to commemorate the Olympic Games held in Seoul, South Korea in 1988. In 1996, he designed four stamps representing Sri Lankan handicrafts.

In addition to that, he designed a host of other stamps for events such as the year of Information Technology, 1998, 50th Anniversary of UNICEF, Janasaviya, Sri Lanka National Commission for UNESCO, 20th Anniversary of Independent Television Network Ltd. (ITN), 50th Anniversary of Central Bank of Sri Lanka, WHO etc.

He also designed four stamps to commemorate four of the late Sri Lankan artists of repute. He had the honour of designing the stamp on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of Independence too. The oblong stamp was issued in commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of BMICH. The stamps he designed for the competition to mark the dawn of 2000 won the first place.

He won two merit awards for two international stamp competitions organised by Ministry of Posts and Telecom, Japan. His watercolour paintings have been appreciated and highly acclaimed by many a foreign connoisseur from countries as varied as England, France, United States, Canada, Australia and Japan.

He has travelled in many countries. The Fukuoka International Gift Show 2005, in Japan was his recent participation in advertising international exhibition. The special quality underlying his work is the unusual observation of the sheer beauty in our immediate environment, and past which is more or less elusive to the uninitiated eye of the ordinary person.

Ordinary things that we see in the environment such as fauna and flora, misty mountains, when recreated through his brush evoke lovely feelings in us. We feel as if we go through the tangible perception of a cool shade of a forest grove and the scorching heat of the high noon sun.

The miserable and hopeless existence of the poor folk and the vignettes of their real life always create an idolized experience in us when represented on paper in the form of watercolour paintings.

Having begun life as a commercial artist, he climbed up the career ladder to become an Art Director in an advertising agency. But he eventually gave up the lucrative position as Art Director so that he would be able to commit himself totally to creative art. Watercolour is the chosen medium for his dedicated service.