Anton B. Perera:

He painted the world as he found it

Many students leave their art schools without learning anything from the instructions provided. What they do learn is from the example of artists whose work they revere, or from fellow students or art books.

Education at St. Anthony’s College, Katugastota played an important role in the growing up of Anton Perera. It is here that he won the most prestigious art award of the school ‘Verbrouge” as a schoolboy. The joy and pleasure of creative art is in the discovery of finding out for oneself what works and what doesn’t work. It is the search, discovery and finding out what to do with the discovery that makes painting a creative art. That is why artists must be creative. Anton Perera discovered from his childhood days that his natural ability to draw human figures and create picture story illustrations was his forte.

Anton was born in Colombo on March 21, 1953. A 26 mile drive from Ratnapura along the Ratnapura-Deniyaya Road brings one into a picturesque mountainous province called Rakwana, surrounded by highland mountain ranges and tea estates. It is in these surroundings that Anton spent his childhood. The scenic beauty of Rakwana became a powerful influence to provide an artistic stimulus in his life. His father, an estate superintendent in Rakwana helped him to promote his artistic potential. He completed his education at St. Joseph’s College, Colombo and St. Aloysious College, Galle where he had the opportunity to hone his skills in the canvas as expressions of art.

A horse rider

Anton B. Perera

After leaving school Anton joined the Upali Group of Newspapers in 1981 as an illustrator and was in charge of the picture story comic book Chithra Mithra which became popular among the readers. After the sudden demise of Upali Wijewardena Anton joined a leading publication company as an illustrator for picture story books in 1975. Some of the picture stories became popular and gained the enthusiasm of the public.

He gradually matured in art as a comic illustrator. His art is so lively, spirited, and impetuous that it kindles a sympathetic spark of imagination among the readers. Even the human figures are drawn with anatomical proportions. He began with picture stories dealing with manifold activities of the people – vibrating, bullfights, bandits, war stories, courtships, seduction and historic events. They were calculated to produce a dramatic effect.

Anton did a series of picture stories for various newspapers while ‘Scorpio’ and Ran Kuruminiyo comic stories became very popular among the readers. Anton’s picture stories were more westernised, even his human figures represented a western appearance and as a result he launched his first book named Athmayata Vandiyak in 2010. It opened the door for Anton to reach the international market.

At present his services are obtained by a leading publication company in Los Angeles (USA) for a comic album. As a young man he had done a few landscapes after a hard day’s toil in tea estates as an estate superintendent in Rakwana and Deraniyagala. These scenes done on canvas with acrylic paint earned the admiration of the people who lived in the vicinity. From then on Anton realised that the estate career was not for him. Art was his interest, so he gave up his job and became a full-time artist. He painted the world as he found it. He was sincere, and refused to exaggerate the colours of nature. His pictures are not overdone. He interpreted nature with entire simplicity and according to his personal sentiment. Anton has not acquired any special academic training in art but is a self-made artist. His natural gift for artistry through sheer perseverance made him a master of the brush.