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Hashan Cooray Sri Lanka , b. 1987
63 x 59 in
The works, created over the past twelve months, feature drawings and painting across the themes of love, pain, desire and existentialism. The body of work is dominated by abstract self-por traits; an attempt at introspection. Incorporating words referring to God-like beings as well as lewd terminology, the images and writing aims to aggravate the senses leading to a further questioning of one's own conformity.
The mouthless face and other works are partly covered by his gestural paintings featuring the Cacti, a symbol of himself and the contradiction of the repelling nature of the plant combined with its nourishing interior. Instinctive, uid strokes are used to create many of the portraits resulting in a black form that resembles the face; to the artist these are his darkest, most questionable moments. The works are created using charcoal, paint and brushes that he constructs himself with ne coir and long sticks.