Image Credit - Grosvenor Gallery
Senaka Senanayake is a Sri Lankan artist recognized as one of the region's prominent living artists. Deemed a child prodigy - he held his first international one-man exhibition at the age of ten, in New York - Senanayake took to full time painting only after he graduated with a degree from Yale in Art and Architecture. It was at Yale that the young artist got involved in politics. He was attracted to the field because of his family's political background. Classes of art training during his time at the university expanded his knowledge and he immersed himself in the history of art of the world.
After returning to his home country, Senanayake started painting fulltime and gradually became one of the region's important living artists. He started focussing on the various environmental issues Sri Lanka faced and one such issue was the depletion of the rain forests. Much of these forests have disappeared and made way for tea gardens. In fact, a number of his works attempt to make viewers aware of the problem. Senanayake says, “My main focus is on the endangered flora and fauna in our rainforests. In 2005, I visited a rainforest in Sri Lanka, which has become my muse for many of my shows.”
Today, art by Senaka Senanayake brings out the splendour of tropical jungles across Asia, Africa and South America. His spotlight is on the elephants, the water buffalo, the parrots and the toucans. Each of his canvases has a unique message: Protect wildlife and preserve these vital ecosystems. He often points out that he could have “shown the negative aspects of destruction, such as people and animals dying, but I try to do happy, positive paintings”.
His home in Colombo reflects his views. Set amidst a lush tropical garden, full of exotic plants which attract colourful birds and iridescent insects, Senanayake gets positive vibes from the environment around him. And, it is his constant endeavour to pass on the positivity to whoever comes to see his work. He wants his viewers to respond to his work. On several occasions, people walk up to a piece of art and do not respond. “I want my paintings to talk. Everyone from a street sweeper to a university professor should be able to relate to my art,” says the artist whose paintings proudly showcase the “spectacular and irreplaceable” beauty of the natural world.
The artist has featured in more than 100 solo shows as well as a number of group shows in Europe, China, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Czechoslovakia, Korea and Egypt.