NUWAN NALAKA
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PRAKRITI NUWAN NALAKA
Nuwan Nalaka returns to his floral and vegetal motifs in Prakriti, a series of brilliant and scintillating paintings that deliberate on feminine energy, sexuality and the erotic.
Nuwan Nalaka’s engagement with Hindu and Buddhist ideas continues in this series. The flower vases are but a sanitized representation of a female figure in birthing position, Lajja Gauri — an ancient concept with Tantric associations that connote fertility and sexuality. They are also an allusion to the Poorna Ghata, the pot of plenty, which reaffirm the ideas of abundance and prosperity. In his mediation, the artist reappropriates and reimagines these ancient iconographies, leading essentially to the same interpretation.
Separated from its natural environment and retained as a decorative ornament within the confinement of a receptacle, the works lead us to an inquiry into the biological potential of flowers. In this context, it probes the limits of agency, freedom and of expression that a woman is granted.
18.11.22 – 13.12.22
Prakriti, in ancient Indian thinking, is the primordial, inert, and inactive energy from which all creation arises. This aspect is understood to be found within all women, and that every woman is an embodiment of Prakriti. Vases brim with tropical abundance and colour. The flowers held within it are tender, filled with the promise of youth. Its hue and scent are enticing to the insects which hover around them. Ideas of attraction, desire and the capacity to give rise to new life are encoded within the paintings. The references to Leda and Venus of Willendorf reiterate it. Overt with symbols and metaphors borrowed from Greek and South Asian imagination, Prakriti delves into the subject of the sensual and the suggestive. The series oscillates between the past and the present. Through the symbolic, the biological, and the decorative Prakriti reengages with questions of the female body and its representation since premodern times. They prod us, like the eyes that quizzically stare at us, to reconsider how we have imagined and continue to imagine women, and their status in society.
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NUWAN NALAKA b. 1981
Nuwan Nalaka's work is informed by gender, politics, nature, spirituality and psychology. His practice is inspired by the techniques of folk art and traditional painting methods while the artist incorporates calligraphic poetry and bold brush strokes to contrast the minute detail with which he depicts the symbolism and imagery within his canvas and paper works. In his more recent series, he immerses his thoughts within the microcosm of the lotus pond in order to reflect on the relationship between society and spirituality. The artist presents a stark collection of largely monochromatic paintings while there is a relentless focus on the physical nature of his subject matter and the medium of painting itself. Presently, Nuwan seeks to develop the contradictions within his visual narrative through the presence of flora and fauna as he continues to question the placement of humanity in his metaphorical landscape through vibrant formalism.
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1. Prakriti I, 2022,Tempera on Fabriano paper, 122 x 122 cm
2. Prakriti II, 2022,Tempera on Fabriano paper, 105 x 75 cm
3. Prakriti III, 2022,Tempera on Fabriano paper, 153 x 122 cm
4. Prakriti IV, 2022,Tempera on Fabriano paper, 153 x 122 cm
5. Prakriti V, 2022,Tempera on Fabriano paper, 105 x 75 cm
6. Prakriti VI, 2022,Tempera on Fabriano paper, 76 x 56 cm
7. Prakriti VII, 2022,Tempera on Fabriano paper, 76 x 56 cm
8. Prakriti VIII, 2022,Tempera on Fabriano paper, 76 x 56 cm
9. Prakriti IX, 2022,Tempera on Fabriano paper, 76 x 56 cm
10. Prakriti X, 2022,Tempera on Fabriano paper, 76 x 56 cm
11. Prakriti XI, 2022,Tempera on Fabriano paper, 153 x 122 cm
12. Prakriti XII (2022) Tempera on Fabriano paper, 105 x 75 cm
13. Prakriti XIII (2022) Tempera on Fabriano paper, 105 x 75 cm
14. Prakriti XIV (2022) Tempera on Fabriano paper, 105 x 75 cm
15. Prakriti XV (2022) Tempera on Fabriano paper, 105 x 75 cm
INDEX
EDUCATION
2013 M.F.A. [Painting] Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, India
2007 B.V.A. (Sp.) Painting, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, India
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020 Samsara | Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka
2017Sutra | Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka
2015Eternal Landscape | Paradise Road Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka
2014Paradise Road Galleries, Colombo, Sri Lanka
2011A Voyage on Boat | Lionel Wendt Art Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka
2010Incredible Watercolour Painting | Galle, Sri Lanka
2009Visions of a Nations | Lionel Wendt Art Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka
2008Portrait of Sri Lanka | Alliance Françoise de Kandy, Kandy, Sri Lanka
2008Transition | Alliance Françoise de Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka
2007Kolkata “A city of vintage tune” | Indian Cultural Centre, Colombo, Sri Lanka
2006Chiaroscuro | Watercolour exhibition, India Cultural Centre, Colombo, Sri Lanka
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017Silent Auction | Temple Trees Auditorium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
2016Liminal Space: Reconfiguring Identity and Place through Contemporary Art | JDA Perera Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka
201611th Anniversary Show | University of the Visual and Performing Arts, Colombo, Sri Lanka
201510th Anniversary Show | UVPA, JDA Perera Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka
2014Group Show | Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka
2013 Group Exhibition | Birla Academy, Kolkata, India
2013Goti Group Exhibition | ICCR Gallery, Kolkata, India
2012 Project Artnexxt | Lalit Kala Academy, Delhi and Hyderabad, India
2012Annual Art Exhibition | Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, India
2011Goti Group Show | Birla Academy of Fine Art, Kolkata, India
2010 Paintings by 40 Contemporary Artist | Town Hall, Kolkata, India
2009 V3 | Academy of fine Art, Kolkata, India
2009 View Between Tree | Karnataka Chitrakala Parishad, Bangalore & Baroda, India
2009 Buddha Purnima | Gallery K2, Kolkata, India
2009 All Said & Done | Gallery K2, Kolkata, India
2008International Art Exhibition | Rabindranath Tegore Centre, ICCR, India
2006Annual Art Exhibition | Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, India
2005Annual Art Exhibition | Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, India
2004Annual Art Exhibition | Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, India
2003Annual Art Exhibition | Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, India
2002 Ape Lokaya | National Art Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka
2000 Seya Roo Siththam Dekma | Sarana Auditorium, Sri Lanka
1999 Siyath Roo Siyasin | Bandaranayaka Vidyalaya, Gampaha, Sri Lanka
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