Sanjaya Gunarathna is a contemporary artist, animator and graphic designer. He was born on 18 January 1980 in Panadura, Sri Lanka as the eldest child in the family. His father Priya Ranjan Gunarathna was a music teacher and mother Weerawaradhana Manel Silva was a dancing teacher. Narendra Gunarathna, who is a musician, is his younger brother and his younger sister is Dhananji Gunarathna, who is an art teacher. Sanjaya was obsessed with drawing and painting as a kid with the influence of his grandfather Weerawaradhana Saldin Silva, who was a well-known local artist. He studied at Thurstan College and Nalanda College in Colombo and was a very popular student due to his incredible talent in art.
After finishing college education he attended a three-year course of Traditional Art Work which was conducted by the Cultural Department under the guidance of Mr. S.P Charles, who was a renowned artist in Sri Lanka. During that training course, Sanjaya sharpened his skills in different aspects of art including traditional art conservation and restoration, life drawing, sculpture and landscape drawing. He successfully completed the course with a 1st Division Certificate. Sanjaya’s styles are Expressionism Art, Modern art, Abstract art. He was influenced by Pablo Picasso, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Chamila Gamage.
Sanjaya started his art career by joining as an intern in an advertising agency owned by Anura Srinath, who is well-known artist, painter, illustrator and cartoonist in Sri Lanka. After gaining some valuable hands-on experience and insight in the commercial arts, he developed a fascination with the newly emerging capabilities of computer generated graphics. Meanwhile, Sanjaya demonstrated his artistic abilities by working as an assistant director for the Sinhala Teledrama, “The Next Generation” as well. Later on he joined Samanala Creations, as an amateur animation artist and played a huge role in creating “Seeyage Katha” which is regarded as the first Sinhala Cartoon DVD with Digital Dolby Surrounding System that was ever produced in Sri Lanka. While working as an animation artist Sanjaya developed a keen interest in the field of digital art. He acquired the necessary skills and experience in different drawing software and later, became a self-taught digital artist.
In 2011, Sanjaya joined Sri Lanka Rupavahini (TV) Corporation and has been working there as an 2D Animation & Graphic Artist. He made a valuable contribution to the creation of popular animation programs, publicity/promotional advertisements which were recognized and won awards at the State Television Arts Awards Ceremony on number of occasions. He won the state award for the Best Animation Production at the State Television Arts Awards Ceremony in 2021. Also, Sanjaya participated in a training program at The Korean Broadcasting System sponsored by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).
His first solo art exhibition held at the Lionel Wendt Art Centre, Colombo, Sri Lanka from 24 to 26 February 2023.
