Kosala Gunasinghe a.k.a. Kos, was born in Sri Lanka into an artistic family and began drawing and painting at an early age. After school, his playground was his father’s agency workshop, where he studied and practiced brush skills in the golden age of hand-drawn advertising. In 1999, he moved to Hong Kong, where he has worked in a creative capacity in the film, advertising, and digital advertising industries.
Kos paints in loud and dominant styles, cheap brushes used to apply dripping oils in crude fast brush strokes, experimental combinations of acrylics and charcoal, tropical colour pallets carried to the extreme. From the inspiration he draws on to his choice of subject matter and the materials he uses, Kos’s work is a celebration of diversity in every sense.
Kos was encouraged to draw and paint from a young age, and after school he would practice in his father’s workshop, who was a creator of hand-painted signs. As an adult, he relocated to Hong Kong where he has worked as a creative director in the advertising and film industries. Kos is drawn to portraiture more than other forms of painting, due to the complex and changeable nature of the human face.
Kos is an artist who enjoys a challenge, avoiding the traditional approach to portraiture. He begins with short strokes to sketch the facial features. Kos then uses crude brushstrokes or throws paint onto the canvas to add dynamic movement and energy to the work. His paintings are characterized by experimental combinations of acrylics, oils and charcoal, and a vivid and bold colour palette.
Kos has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in Hong Kong and overseas, and participates in fairs such as the Asia Contemporary Art Show. He has also been shortlisted for the 2018 Royal Arts Prize in London.
Life Goes on Within You Without You / Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences – Central, Hong Kong SAR China (2017)
Incomplete Totality / Kliq Art Space – Causeway Bay, Hong Kong SAR China (2017)
Transfigurations / PubArt Gallery – Central, Hong Kong SAR China (2015)
Serene Majesty / PubArt Gallery – Central, Hong Kong SAR China (2014)
The Devil Inside / PubArt Gallery – Central, Hong Kong SAR China (2013)
UNITY / Hong Kong Visual Art Center – Central, Hong Kong SAR China (2018)
Asia Contemporary Art Show / Conrad Hotel – Admiralty, Hong Kong SAR China (2017)
Asia Contemporary Art Show / Conrad Hotel – Admiralty, Hong Kong SAR China (2016)
Art Rooms London / Meliá White House – London, United Kingdom (2015)
Sunday Times – Sri Lanka- Challenging an ideal (2017)
Expat Living Hong Kong- Art in the City (2017)
Exotiq Thailand- A Face in the Crowd (2016)
Sunday Times – Sri lanka – Refreshing free rein to imagination and creativity (2016)
Presented by Aartzy
Aartzy
(Art gallery, Canada)