The Hidden Allure of Arjuna’s Cave

It all

There are two Arjuna Gunarathnes. One is extraordinary. Every artistic medium springs to life when he puts his hand to it. Give him a pen and black ink and he will invent unprecedented and unforgettable surrealistic mutations of the human figure. Give him watercolours and wasli and he can create miniatures with a delicacy, wit and tonal poise matching the classic achievements of that South Asian tradition. With pastels to hand, or with staining ink washes, Gunarathne is instead explosively expressive, pushing saturated colours to an extreme of heartstopping intensity. And then, switching from his virtuoso use of these lightweight media, the same artist wrestles with the hefty physicality of oil paint and persuades it to speak for him, establishing a highly individual brushwork that as it were combs through his own stout impastos. Gunarathne has collected all these different techniques and made each of them his friend, in the way that just a few people can strike up an immediate sympathy with whatever animal they happen to meet. The rest of us shake our heads in astonishment: how on earth do they do it? (I myself was one of those watching others, when I had the pleasure of getting to know the artist at the Royal Drawing School in London some four years ago.)

Julian Bell

29 November 2022

I Respond to My Environment.

Spontaneity in isolation is where my practice flourishes.

Take a minute to write an introduction that is short, sweet, and to the point. If you sell something, use this space to describe it in detail and tell us why we should make a purchase. Tap into your creativity. You’ve got this.

Studio Practice

Born in 1976 at Matale, Sri Lanka, Arjuna Gunarathne spent his childhood with his five siblings.
Arjuna produced his first oil paintings at the age of 12 years. The subject matter even then was his family. The collection now lost to time, was from landscape to portraiture.
In 1994 Arjuna submitted his artwork for a poster competition held by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Fisheries & Marine Recourse and won. The subject of study was on Family Planning in Fishing Villages and culture. The competition was awarded by the then Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranayake.
Regional Educational Secrateriate was held at the Matale Council Hall, 30 Paintings of Mixed Media from Oil to Pastel. 25 - 27 June 1995 19year old Arjuna
12 paintings were sold at the event.
Item description
Arjuna finished his secondary education at Christ Church College Matale, Central Province. His Advance Level study was in Buddhist Civilisation, Fine Art, History, Drama & Theatre.
Arjuna’s submission to the Poster competition held by the Sri Lankan Telecom Corporation was selected in 1997.
On 03rd March 1998 a Tuesday 21 year old Arjuna enrolled at his first Art Academy, Vibhavi Academy of Fine Arts in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Arjuna exhibited his works at both the annual art shows at the Vibhavi Academy of Arts, Sri Lanka.
At the Vibhavi Academy’s Graduate Art show held at the Galleries at Athul-Kotte, Colombo; Where he exhibited a collection of Drawings & Paintings, character studies and portraits.
After graduating, Arjuna exhibited 4 paintings at the Vibhavi Fine Art Academy’s Alumni Show held at the Barefoot Gallery in Colombo on the 24th of October 2001.
Item description
Teaching at the Charity
Arjuna displayed a Group Installation work at the exhibition “The Broken Landscapes”, held at the VAFA Gallery.
A Mixed Media Group Art Installation made as a response to the fallibilities of the Peace Talks & Ceasefire agreed upon by the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE. Although, the respite from all the car and suicide bombings and civilian casualties came as a blessing, the white powder sprinkled over the disfigured civilian belongings symbolises the futile nature of the temporary ceasefire.
Arjuna studied under Jagath Weerasinghe’s ‘Advance Course’ in doing Art : Materials, Things, Places and Weaving, Colouring , Making as Doing Art.
Arjuna produced his Installing art piece “Books” (2002-2003 Feb) - Mixed Media Installation. This work was produced as a result of a 1 year research into the nature of knowledge gained via books. Which accompanied a written work exploring the nature of books, their knowledge and accessibility. Published in various Sri Lankan news papers and magazine in April 2003.
The final Exhibition of his installation took place in 8-16th February 2003 at Vibhavi Art Galleries in Athul Kotte, COlombo.
Arjuna was selected for the Madanjeet Singh Art Scholarship for SAARC Students and awarded in August 2003. He flew to Pakistan in September to the Beaconhouse National University in Lahore, Pakistan.
He was Part of the first and only Mughal Miniature Paintin Advance Course.
28th April to 8th May 2004 Solo-Show
20 works were exibited and
4 paintings were sold
Item description
Arjuna exhibited his Books (2002-2003) Installation at the exhibition
27th September to 06th October
Arjuna
Item description
20th August 2005 Arjuna & Tushma
Just before the eve of war
29th December 2005 Arjuna migrated to the UK.
09th - 11th of February 2006 at the Colombo National Art Gallery.
2 Paintings - 2 T Shirt paintings
19-20 November 2007 VAFA Annual Art Show
1 Installation and 2 Paintings
Book Installation -
The Biennale catalogue was the first time Arjuna exhibited his new work - Graphic Pen on Paper.
4 Graphic pen on paper artworks
“Talking to Myself” (there are 32 works)
Item description
From Thursday 12th till the 25th of August 2010
‘Me, Myself & I’ Solo-exhibition held at the Barefoot Gallery in Colombo, Curated by Sharmini Perera.
This Catalogue include some of the earliest experimentation on Pen on Paper by Arjuna Gunarathne. He style dramatically changed due to necessity and pragmatism, soon after moving to the UK.
‘Talking to Me’ was the title of his 4 miniature painting set exhibited at the exhibition along with his new works.
By the end of March 2013, Arjuna had secured suitable premises for his Fine Arts Studio in Ponders End of Enfield, North London, which he had called home since 2005.
Building up his own Studio Practice was the turning point in his career.
Item description
Sharmini Perera
Item description
Applies for the drawing year but fails and instead gets offered a 3-month (Sep - Dec) intensive drawing course: studying Print Making, Etching, Life-Model, Drawing and a supplementary course in Drawing From the National Gallery: where Arjuna studied the changing form and structure from European Medieval art to Impressionist art and how to respond in your own practice.
Prince’s Trust had been renamed The Royal Drawing School by now,
Arjuna’s 3rd try becomes the successfully entry finally being enrolled for the Drawing Year of Sep 2017 -Dec 2018.
Item description
Nov 09th to 14th 2018 at Christie’s
2 miniatures and two paintings
(2 soft pastel on paper )
“Air-Bourne and “Cuddle”
Royal Drawing School Shoreditch Galleries Exhibition
8 paintings, including three miniatures, three pastels and two water colour on Wasli
Dhaka Art Summit 5th February 2018
One hundred Thousand
28 works of art (Drawings)
“Talking to My Self” Pen on Paper
12 December 2019
12th December 2019 first Exhibition at Sharmini’s MMCA Sri Lanka.
Item description
Item description
Due to COVID
Item description
Item description
15th Dec 2022 to 15th Jan 2023
Within Boundaries
04 May - 23 Oct 2023”
“The Foreigners” Exhibition at MMCA Sri Lanka
from 01st May till the 25th May 2023, held at Christie’s London and also displayed at the King' James’s Palace’s Throne Room.
Item description
Item description
Item description
December 2024
Saskia
November 2024
taken by AKARA
AKARA
Item description