Jagath Weerasinghe ( si, ජගත් වීරසිංහ; born 1954) is a
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
n contemporary artist and archeologist.
Weerasinghe has been a significant driving force in the development of Sri Lankan art since the early 1990s. He is Director of the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology at the
University of Kelaniya
Pannaya Parisujjhati
, mottoeng = Self-purification is by insight
, established = 1875 Vidyalankara Pirivena1959 Vidyalankara University
, type = Public
, endowment =
, adminis ...
.
He obtained a
Bachelor of Fine Arts
A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases.
Background
The Bachelor ...
with Honours in Painting at the Institute of Aesthetic Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka in 1981.
In 1985 he received a Conservation of Wall Paintings,
(ICCROM) in Rome, which was followed in 1988 by a Conservation of Rock Art from the
Getty Conservation Institute
The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), located in Los Angeles, California, is a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust. It is headquartered at the Getty Center but also has facilities at the Getty Villa, and commenced operation in 1985.J. Paul Getty ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
.
In 1991 Weerasinghe obtained a
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.)
is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts a ...
in Painting at the
American University, Washington, D.C.
Weerasinghe coined the phrase ‘90s Art Trend’, recognizing at the time the need for a cohesive framework to describe the activity of his peer group.
This adopting of a phrase as framework by Weerasinghe acted as a catalyst for theoretical inquiry into the politically conscious contemporary art praxis of the 1990s in Sri Lanka.
He was commissioned by the Sri Lankan government to design the monument ‘Shrine for the Innocent’ as a remembrance for the innocent victims of the violence that the southern part of the country experienced in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the work completed in 1999.
He co-founded the Theertha International Artists Collective in 2000, and served as its Chairman till 2017. Theertha continues to foster new artists and initiatives.
He describes current Sri Lankan artists as living in an era of ‘para-modernism’.
Exhibitions
Weerasinghe's works have been exhibited in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, India, Netherlands, Germany and Japan. Solo exhibitions include ''Belief: The Promise of Absence'',
Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2018; ''Dream for Me'', curated by Liz Fernando at
Khoj, Delhi, India, 2018; and ''Decorated'', Breese Little, London, UK, 2014;
among others.
References
90 දශකයේ කලාව
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weerasinghe, Jagath
Sinhalese artists
1954 births
Living people
Alumni of the University of Kelaniya
American University alumni
Kala Suri