Jagath Weerasinghe (; born 1954) is a
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...
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
The University of Kelaniya (UoK; , ) is a public university in Sri Lanka. Just outside the municipal limits of Colombo, in the city of Kelaniya, the university has two major institutions and seven faculties.
History
The University of Kelaniy ...
.
He obtained a
Bachelor of Fine Arts
A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students pursuing a professional education in the visual arts, Fine art, or performing arts. In some instances, it is also called a Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA).
Background ...
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 Gett ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
.
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 admi ...
in Painting at the
American University
The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...
, 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