Dumith Kulasekara: Visual Arts Practice, Research & Writing.

"Organs without Bodies" is a piece of art that I created in 2019 which is one of the series of works that I have been producing for years, yet have not been on view within the public. The audience may have thought that it is not the work by Dumith Kulasekara as it is not showing (according to the audience) the features of my works which the public has been familiar with for a certain period of time. One reason for this could be a gap (this is a very critical concept in the critical theory of art) between the works seen by the public before the “Organs without Bodies”. So, now there is (the ) thing confronted to the audience that is beyond the dimension of thinking which encounters the subject with a shock that can create a psychic trauma (Kulasekara 2015, 4)  At this point, I am not going to clear that idea here. Rather I will leave it for the time and the audience. But I prefer to put it in a provocative way or in Lacanian way “Large hole and opening”. There is a large hol

On an invitation sent by the Fine Art Faculty of the SOJO University in Japan, I attended for one-month residency program on visual arts research from December 2018 to January 2019. The Faculty is located in Kumamoto city which is a very quiet and fantastic place for studying and living. The Faculty of the fine art of the SOJO University consists of departments of Western Painting, Japanese Style Painting, Graphic Designs, and Sculpture. I had opportunities to work in figure drawing sessions in the sculpture department with Professor Kayako Kusumato and Professor Katsuno who are the leading professors in the department of sculpture and professional sculptors in Japan. Observing these professional sculptors' studios located in the faculty building has taken me into places where all kinds of research activities on materials, forms, and conceptual strategies are taking place. The studios are full of studies of sculptures and objects in bronze, ceramics and terracotta, and mixed m

In 2018 I visited Athens for the third time. This year, it was dedicated to presenting my current research titled the examination of monochrome practices in contemporary art at the 9th Conference on Visual and Performing Arts held in Athens, Greece. My research practice is  always connected with site visits to the cultural and historical places in the world. This research examined the dimension of the idea of the monochrome present in the works produced by contemporary artists.  My research shows the constant presence of monochrome in painting and sculpture since the ancient time of art history. The research further found how such a monochromatic tone (as color, form, and idea as well) has become a language of art, especially in contemporary art. This third-time tour to  Athens, the place where gave birth to so many cultural, political, and historical phenomenon, has always given me a new insight of deeply looking back at the history and contemporary of visual arts practice.    Referen

This exhibition included the body of works that I created during four months of the residency program at the fine art department of the K’Arts in Seoul, South Korea. The exhibition was held at 175 Gallery (K’Arts) in Seoul, South Korea. This show includes three larger size paintings and four drawings in Japanese Ink and drawings in ink and pen. In producing the works and curating the exhibition, I conceptualized Skins as a screen that exists as a shield of cover which prevents us from directly encountered the body (interior which is brutal and bloody). The works show the dresses with the in-completed body. I titled these works as a body without organs.

The Korea National University of Arts is one of the leading art universities in Seoul, South Korea, which has very strong graduate and postgraduate programs in visual arts. I was invited by the Faculty of Fine Arts for a four-month visiting researcher program. In this four-month program (AMFEK), I carried out studio-based research on the theme of the body and produced a body of work that includes paintings and drawings. The studio-based research was exhibited as an exhibition that was curated by myself. The exhibition was titled Skins. The catalog includes the text with my curatorial notes and the reproduction of the works