Kokila Wijesundera: Paintings of brilliant colours

Kokila Wijesundera hails from a beautiful village, Galpotthayaya in Giruwa Patthuwa. The village is covered with rich fields and terraces and a wilderness.

It is in this village that Kokila Wijesundera was born on February 19, 1976. He completed his education at the Madaya Maha Vidyalaya, Tangalle. Since he had an aptitude for art from his early childhood, he was able to show his talents and impress his teachers as a schoolboy artist. He obtained his formal art training from the reputed art teacher Don Weerasinghe, who encouraged him to develop his potential in art.

In 2000 and 2003 Kokila participated in a group exhibition organised by the Municipal Council, Tangalle. He entered the Vibhavi Art Academy in 2000 and obtained a Diploma in Art for drawing and sculpture. He earned a diploma in Graphics and Jewellery design at the National Design Centre, Moratuwa. He has successfully participated and won many awards from Ruhnu Aruna held at the BMICH. In 2007 by participating in the Young Contemporary Art Festival he won the State Award. He also participated in an exhibition of visual art titled Transition 2002 organised by the Hambantota Seven Young Artists Team. It was a tremendous success.

Kokila Wijesundera

One of his paintings

In the art of painting there is nothing more than the creation of forms and their interrelation and colouring. There would be no difficulty in finding a common measure for comparing representational art with abstract works.

Impulses

Under these strong impulses from within and without Kokila’s art moved quickly towards abstraction. Abstract art is not a precise means of communication, it is only a mode of expression.

Kokila has been participating in exhibitions both at home and abroad. In 2003 he participated in the Asian Art Festival held in Bangladesh. The variety of media in which he worked is oil, acrylic and water-colour.

His outstanding asset as a painter is his dedication to his work. He has been successful in painting various aspects of life of ordinary men, projecting his vision and using various techniques and styles. His brush and pallet helped him to portray mythological scenes, symbolic representation of gods, devils, tragedy and comedy.

His portraits have strong contrasts of light and shadow, deep reds, strong purples and brilliant blues. They are among his chief characteristics. Many of the figures seem to have sprung into life with a single stroke of the brush. He is adept at depicting the human figure in colossal proportions upon a canvas of enormous size. His portraits retain his natural simplicity. The pictures seem to breathe and talk.

His portraits are living pictures. His pictures depict everything human beings experience; such as love, frustration, compassion, hatred and loving kindness. Having proved his mastery of the genre painting and sculpting, Kokila has turned his hand to another branch of art directing teledramas and art direction. Presently he works at the Rupavahini Corporation as a set designer.