Ascending by Echoes

Artist: SHANAKA KULATHUNGA Medium: Oil on Canvas Size: 32 x 39 inches Year: 2025 Shanaka Kulathunga captures the pulse of urban life through a richly layered cityscape that balances architectural grandeur with intimate human presence. In this work, the city becomes more than a backdrop; it transforms into a living organism shaped by memory, movement, and collective experience. Colonial-era buildings stand with quiet dignity, their weathered facades carrying traces of history, while pedestrians, street vendors, and fleeting silhouettes animate the scene with rhythm and spontaneity. Through this interplay of permanence and transience, Kulathunga reflects on the ever-changing nature of urban existence. His painterly approach combines careful observation with expressive texture, allowing every surface to vibrate with energy and atmosphere. Light moves across the composition in subtle tonal shifts, revealing both the beauty and fragility of everyday moments that often pass unnoticed. Rather than presenting the city as a static environment, Kulathunga portrays it as an emotional landscape where stories unfold continuously in shared public spaces. The layered composition invites viewers to wander through the scene, discovering fragments of narrative embedded within the architecture and human interactions. The work evokes nostalgia while remaining deeply rooted in contemporary life, emphasizing how cities preserve memory even as they evolve. Through his sensitive handling of detail, colour, and spatial depth, Kulathunga celebrates the poetry of ordinary urban experiences and the enduring relationship between people and the environments they inhabit.