Dileepa's quest

Looking for meaning in life through his art:

by Ryhanna Salie

Dileepa Jeewantha

Dileepa Jeewantha has been doodling for as long as he could remember. Initially it was chalk doodles on the floor. But as he grew older and with some help from Chandragupta Thenuwara, whose art classes he attended, he evolved as an artist with a love for oil on canvas.

Today, Dileepa uses painting as an attempt to understand himself and his surroundings. Converting his ideas to images on canvas gives him the opportunity to introspect and express his feelings.

Given his outlook on life, his constant search for the meaning of his existence and his skepticism towards conventional social institutions and norms, one could deem him as being an Existentialist and a Postmodernist. But Dileepa likes to call himself an artist looking for meaning in life, his life in particular.

He likes to paint self portraits because it enables him to explore and understand the different aspects of his personality. He also likes to paint his wife, his newborn baby and family members.

He also paints landscapes and says he tries to make a statement through his paintings. His landscape paintings are unconventional and contain words like 'yes' 'don't' and 'rupees'. When asked about the significance of the words, Dileepa says the paintings depict the patch of land opposite his house in Panadura, which people are encouraging him to purchase. But he does not want to purchase the land and put up a building because it would inevitably destroy the natural beauty of the land.

Dileepa strongly believes that man is dependent on nature and wants to convey the message that nature should be preserved and not ruined by commercialisation.

Dileepa has Higher Diplomas in Multi Disciplinary Design, Graphic Design and Multimedia and has completed a certificate course in painting.

He has had three combined exhibitions and three solo exhibitions. He has as an art gallery of his own in Hikkaduwa.

Picture by Gayan Pushpika