It is difficult to speak about Sri Lanka without bringing up its natural qualities. Gayan, in turn, explores the violation of the island’s sacred nature. While he remarks that everyone has a responsibility towards society, it rings particularly true for ideas placed in the public realm. A rapid redevelopment policy, known as ‘beautification’, currentlyruns rampant. The artist interrogates this policy of nationalism and supposed development via a series of surreal and dream-like paintings. It is the aftermath depicted in these paintings that is brought into question: to what end? What is the cost of replacing real, diverse beauty with superficiality? The proud, floating head of a lion and a bathtub housing a lotus pond are some of the objects that remain in bleak and devastated landscapes. It is as if the only thing that deserves to remain in a human-engineered climate apocalypse is the indomitable spirit of mankind. However, there is a sliver of hope, although somewhat independent of humanity, in this investigation. In an ethereal painting of a singular lotus stem, there are seeds that are replications of planet Earth. This idea gives hope to the possibility that newer and better worlds may be borne out of the destruction of another. It brings to mind the classical and proverbial Buddhist statement that if there is no mud present, there can be no lotus. 

Acrylic and Japanese Ink on Rice Paper on Canvas

110 x 85 cm
43 1/4 x 33 1/2 in 

He investigates its implications on a wider scale in the installation Misplaced I, where a number of glass bottles are positioned with portraits of missing people inside them. This refers to the Thovil ritual in which priests trap evil spirits inside bottles and are purged from households by being thrown out. The installation implies a systematic operation where individuals disruptive to a governing system are disposed of in a ritualistic and regular manner. The showcase title refers to Sri Lanka’s political corruption and its penchant for making people permanently disappear. It primarily makes reference to the secretive information that decides what happens in the country. Access to such information is privileged to those who, despite their civil obligations, remain, like Gayan’s lattice-work, decidedly opaque.