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Udagedara comes of age – exhibits at Colombo’s greenest gallery
By Vanessa Sridharan
The night is dark -- there is a deep sensuality in the scene, despite the calming effect of the serene waters and surrounding trees. This is Priyantha Udagedara at work, an artist who makes the viewers almost surrender to the power of his work.

Or at least, that’s what he aims at.
“I painted and drew from the time I could remember” Priyantha said
He chose art as an A/L subject and then went on to get a degree in painting from the Institute of Aesthetic Studies. Since then he as held exhibitions in 2003 and 2004 at the Barefoot and Paradise Road Galleries, where Colombo’s dilettante and talent-spotter alike scout for the best seminal work.

“I love nature and anything to do with the environment so this time I themed this exhibition around nature,” he said. The paintings however are not cliché landscapes, or etchings of animals gardens and pretty things. Priyantha says he was inspired by China and India and Sri Lanka and combined their culture and history into his paintings and brought out the romantic aspects of these Asian cultures.

The canvases are mostly watercolours and oil paintings and are drawn in fine detail which adds a lot of colour to a room, and as a viewer I tended to find something new drawn into the fine details of every work. Instead of opting for numerous little things, Priyantha’s canvases are big and full-bodied – much like his jovial and friendly demeanour.

Priyantha of courses adds that he does not have a favourite painting and is extremely proud of his work. “There is an open market for paintings theses days; people always wonder if they become artistes that they would find it hard to make ends meet. But that’s not the case as a lot of people buy paintings for a lot of money,” he said.

Priyantha is now a full time artist and lends his talent to advertising companies and sometimes hosts combined exhibitions with other artists. The exhibition will remain open till January 31, at the upstair Gallery of the Thambapani Restaurant, Duplication Road Colombo 3.

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