Abstract:
H.A. Karunarathne becomes a remarkable personnel in the Sri Lankan art history, especially the modern art. Due to his leadership to establish a tradition based on several European and American styles namely abstract expressionism and European religious and philosophical art styles. His revolutionary approach on painting techniques, especially merging the pre ground, middle area and the background of the space used, provided unique appearance and beauty to his artwork. The shapes and colours of his art work were of significance due to its philosophical nature. Apparently, the indulgence of realistic and naturalistic approach enables many Sri Lankan artists to be inspired from his artwork. Thus the objectives of the present study are to identify and analyze the characteristics of the paintings of H.A. Karunarathne and his contribution towards the abstract art style in contemporary visual art
