Namal Kumara

ARTIST BIO

Namal Kumara's practice involves painting on canvas and the artist deals with the subjects of identity and gender. Namal Kumara was born in 1991 in Sri Lanka and graduated from the University of Visual and Performing Arts in Colombo in 2016. In 2018 he presented his first solo exhibition of work with Art Space Sri Lanka (now SFG Platform) and belongs to numerous private collections locally and internationally. He was selected to participate in the Imago Mundi Publication by the Benetton Foundation in 2016. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions including Leo Art, Lionel Wendt Gallery, Sri Lanka (2019), Nawa Kalakaruwa, JDA Perera Gallery, Sri Lanka (2018/2016), Wings, JDA Perera Gallery, Sri Lanka (2016) and Xining People Association, Qinghai, China (2014).

CONCEPT

Namal Kumara borrows inspiration from his recent solo exhibition Nanti Go Samitan Dhanan where he repurposed the metaphor of the bull in a Marxian examination of power, politics and social classes. A contestation of power ensues in the chaos of coloured abstraction. The series is an examination of a system that is sustained on the contributions and suffering of the proletariat. It celebrates the proletariat and looks towards a time when they would rise up from the blind servitude and present a challenge the ruling classes.