Himansu Perera

When Himansu returned to Sri Lanka with a degree in Animation and Graphic Design from RMIT in Melbourne, it was with one clear goal in mind – to promote digital art. “I don’t think digital art is as appreciated as it should be. Actually scrap that, I don’t want to just promote digital artists, I’d like to promote everybody.” Also dear to his heart is his desire to support children struggling with serious illnesses. All the money he has collected from the sale of his artworks at his first exhibition went to a little girl diagnosed with terminal organ failure. It’s a big part of his reason for coming back home: “Everyone who wants to change things and help people, if they leave, then there’s nobody left to do the helping,” he says. As one of the newest members of the Collective of Contemporary Artists, Himansu’s work was recently part of the COCA exhibition at the Colombo Art Biennale. His large, sprawling canvases dominated one end of the Maradana Warehouse Project. “My art is feeling centric,” he explains, “It’s rooted in what I’m feeling right now. What you see is dark and macabre and what not, but if you really look at it - this is going to sound pretentious, I know – but you can try to get into what I was thinking at that point - which you don’t have to, because it will look cool by itself – but you’ll know how I was feeling, whether I was at peace or frustrated.” Though he does occasionally draw and paint on real canvases, most of his work is done “sitting in front of the computer screen with a graphic tablet in my hand for hours on end.” Currently, Himansu works for C3 Labs in Colombo.