Jayantha Silva showcased his latest collection of paintings at his ninth exhibition, titled ‘Expression 9’. He is an award winning artist, who has had multiple solo exhibitions as well as undertaken commissioned work for the Sri Lanka Tea Board, among others.
A former commercial artist who worked in the advertising industry, Jayantha now devotes his time to creating works of art. His style is realism, and his forte is painting the human figure – his paintings bring to life the faces and contours of people with a startling reality. Jayantha attributes his talent to his habit of actively looking at the environment everywhere he goes, and also to his photographic memory which enables him to see something and store it in his mind, to be recalled many months or years later. Using his favourite media of charcoal, pastels and acrylics, Jayantha draws and paints what he sees in his mind, not always understanding what he is trying to express until the work is completed.
Jayantha displayed nearly 100 paintings at Expression 9, each of the works displaying the emotions of people as they go about their day to day lives. His paintings bring out the liveliness and emotions in a way that tugs at the viewer, drawing them into the portrait and its story.
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