Interview
Dananjaya Edirisinghe
Dananjaya Edirisinghe was born in 1986. He is a self-taught metal sculpture artist from Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Art has always been his spirit and passion, and he continuously experiments each day, pushing himself to creative limits. Dananjaya was brought up with metal bashing sounds as a part of his childhood, but his professional relationship with sculptures only started to prosper during the past few years.
Every experiment he has done with the internal flame has grown more and more towards an unbreakable passion, finally pushing him towards a professional career as a visual artist.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“In my childhood, I used to draw on floors, walls and doors. This is how my father first noticed my skill. He appreciated my works and tactfully provided me with a bundle of papers and paint to draw on.
I refused fancy toys. Instead, I would collect iron items from my father's workshop and imagine my own adventure stories while playing with them. I believe this helped to improve my imagination, which is what drives me most to do my original works. It was at my father's iron workshop where I learned to weld very well when I was 15 years.
When I grew up, I had no ambition to become an artist, so I opted for the insurance field. It was while I was sitting at my office desk that I created my very first tiny sculpture using paperclips. I then moved on to using binding cable. Since my colleagues liked my work, I had the audacity to take these works to a well-known gallery, where I was brutally rejected at the reception itself. That made me even more determined to exhibit my work there one day, and eventually I did.
I exhibited my work for the very first time in 2018 at the biggest open art fair in Sri Lanka.
I also had the opportunity to represent Sri Lanka at the World Youth Forum in Egypt 2019, where I was able to work with 45 sculpture artists from around the world, and this was a source of much experience and knowledge for me.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“I enjoy creating conceptual sculptures with a fantasy theme, and I am always trying to represent the idea of ‘satisfying through the incompleteness of life’ through all my works. Also, I want to spread positive vibes through my works to inspire people.”
“I believe artists have to play a huge role in society, since art can express the things that words cannot. Therefore, spreading good vibes through art is the most important thing, and this can only be done by artists. It helps inspire people and assists them to escape momentarily from their uncertain situations.”
How would you describe your work?
“Usually, I imagine from the concept up to a few steps of my working process. I believe art is all about imagination becoming a reality. I use my welding torch as a paintbrush to form my works.
Through my working process, I convert irregular metal pieces into figurative shapes. I keep the broken areas as they help to improve the depth of the art piece. The broken areas represent the ‘incomplete’. I am trying to improve the glamorous look in my works because the glamor and expressions of the sculpture symbolize ‘satisfaction’.
I am always trying to send a positive message through my works - one that will help us enjoy, satisfy, celebrate or understand every moment of our life.”
What is your creative process like?
“Once I am inspired by something, I start to imagine my work. I get the sculpture idea, then I start to imagine a few steps of my working process. I can see the final piece in my imaginary world.
I started creating works using scrap metal, but I quickly evolved to stainless steel, brass, and copper as it could be preserved and amplified with natural corrosion. Once I pick the materials I need, I separate them into irregular pieces and I form them into an imagined art piece. Sometimes I draw a simple sketch for complicated works, but most of the time I like to do my works without sketches. When I start the work with an empty mind, without any sketch, the final outcome always surprises me.”
“Every kind of mood helps me create my art. I like to start my works with an empty mindset. That way, I can feel the art piece using me as a tool before the appearance of the finished sculpture.”
What inspires you?
“When I started my professional career as an artist, I used to take short road trips, surf the internet, and make conversation with my co-artists. As a child, I had spent so much time imagining fantasy and conceptual things, and so I started to develop my skill and focus on my sculpting process. When we focus on what we do, everything that happens to us, appears to us or that we hear, become sources of inspiration.”
Which artists influence you most?
“While doing my wire sculptures in my father's workshop, I noticed irregular sheet metal pieces spread out on the floor. I wanted to create face sculptures using them, while also imagining what else I could do with them. Due to my lack of knowledge on facial features, it was so difficult to form the piece. Turning to the internet, I saw the exact metal sculpture that I had imagined. It was Jovana Tucovic's masterpiece.
Jovana Tucovic has the greatest influence on me as an artist.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“Currently, my works are being featured on Galleryscapes Sri Lanka, which you can view here.
I am also currently working on my very first European online exhibition.”
