Gallery Silver Scpaes
Ananda Thandawa
Ananda Thandawa
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Artist: SHANAKA KULATHUNGA
Ananda Thandawa, 2026
Medium: Charcoal on Linen
Size: 47.24 x 35.43 inches
Shanaka Kulathunga masterfully captures the powerful essence of the Tandav — the cosmic dance of destruction associated with Lord Shiva — in this striking charcoal work filled with movement, energy, and spiritual intensity. Through evidently swift and expressive strokes, the artist transforms a complex divine personality into a deeply emotional and visually commanding presence. The composition radiates force and rhythm, allowing the viewer to almost feel the vibration and momentum of Shiva’s sacred dance unfolding across the surface of the paper.
Kulathunga demonstrates remarkable artistic restraint and sensitivity by conveying profound symbolism through minimal yet highly evocative mark-making. His mastery lies in the ability to communicate spiritual depth, emotional power, and narrative complexity within a single image. The vigorous charcoal strokes create dramatic textures and tonal contrasts, giving the work an immediacy that mirrors the raw energy of the Tandav itself. Rather than relying on excessive detail, the artist allows gesture, motion, and atmosphere to carry the emotional weight of the composition.
The flowing dark tresses of Lord Shiva move dynamically in tandem with the dance, lending both grace and ferocity to the image. These sweeping forms create a visual rhythm that enhances the sensation of continuous motion, symbolizing the cosmic cycle of destruction, transformation, and renewal associated with Shiva’s divine power. Despite the intensity of the subject, the work retains a sense of elegance and spiritual transcendence through its balanced composition and fluid execution.
Through this expressive charcoal rendering, Shanaka Kulathunga reinterprets mythological imagery with remarkable contemporary vitality. His painterly sensitivity transforms the sacred dance of Shiva into a timeless visual meditation on energy, destruction, and cosmic balance, revealing the enduring emotional and spiritual resonance of Hindu mythology through a modern artistic language.
Why Choose Us
Art has always, naturally, reflected the development and exploration of different thoughts and perceptions, and our current postmodern era is no different. It is interesting to see how art has evolved visually, yet the traditional methods of composing art remain a valid means of expression.
All it takes for an artist to rise above normalcy, is inspiration, which fuels his passion to paint beautiful creations throughout his life.
The valuable expression of art is always there with us, but now this expression is yet to take an interesting diversion with our art gallery, Gallery Silver Scapes, located in Hauz Khas Enclave. Art is no longer considered just decorative but has evolved and come forth as a major form of investment yielding high rates of returns for its buyers, making it an expression commonly used.
Mrs Mayor was walked into the art world by the legendary modernist Bimal Das Gupta, one of whose biggest collections remains with Gallery Silver Scapes. In the 1980s, as head and first curator of the Habiart Gallery founded by Mrs Rekha Modi — a childhood friend — Mrs Mayor worked closely with and curated shows for renowned artists such as A Ramachandran, GR Santosh, Rameshwar Broota, Sakti Burman, MK Bardhan, Dhiraj Chaudhury, M Sivanesan, and Arup Das among others.
Besides modern masters, she also worked with young contemporaries such as Sudip Roy, Paresh Maity, Subroto Kundu, Vinod Sharma, and many more. Artworks commissioned by her are now part of prestigious collections, such as those of the India Habitat Centre, Ranbaxy, Pepsi, Hotel Lalit, Bank of America, and many more private and public collections.