Manohansa, being a part of the Foundation of Psychophysical Aesthetics in Assembly Sculpture, is blessed with a magical vision to witness the art and form in scrap metal and junk yard finds whereas today he is known to be the ‘God of Metals’ for his marvellous work of Assemblage Arts.
 Prageeth Manohansa |
Prageeth Manohansa, who hails from a family of contemporary artists, is completely attuned to his abode amidst nature and bountiful indigenous fauna in Yagoda, Gampaha belongs to a new wave of artists that emerged from the post 90s movement which changed the face of contemporary art entirely, drawing inspiration from battles and the social and cultural tension that ensued in Sri Lanka.
Manohansa holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Kelaniya and he later became a Fine Arts graduate holder of Aesthetics University excelling in Assemble Art who subsequently developed in to a well-established veteran artist represented by Saskia the Fernando Gallery.
Manohansa, being strongly influenced by the Sri Lankan culture and its enthralling nature is a trained landscape architect who works with the disciplines of welding and recycling of scrap metal and found objects that are being twisted in to life-like forms. Revitalising the approach to material incorporated in his Assemblage Art, he embraces critical topics on an organic scale through his collections of mixed media art.
Prageeth assembles scrap metal in to various animals, Buddha statues, human figures and assorted Assemblage Art in association with the natural environment.
Manohansa’s imagination is boundless with regard to the character trails that are unique to each image therefore his forte is to simply retain the essence of his contemporary arts.
His artistic leap is represented by a technical point of view, physical strength and mental integrity with a focus on bringing scrap metal in to life.
Manohansa has created over 5,000 pieces of Contemporary and Assemblage Art which are being celebrated both locally and internationally. His renowned art includes the giant peacock which was designed for Mattala Airport, the horse in Panchikawatte Junction, the giant relic in Singapore and the colossus elephant in Malaysia.
Particularly, Manohansa have made a much higher market value for Assemblage art than ever and have managed to popularise the Fine Arts subject in Sri Lanka over the years. Moreover, his Assemblage Art has preserved its identity universally due to its unembellished and rapid configuration.
It’s breathtaking to catch sight of how Prageeth revives scrap metal in to wondrous pieces of art that anyone in the world could not even think of.
Manohansa is blessed with an artistic vision and an amazingly creative mind to enliven discarded bits and pieces of metal. “I assume that life is a forest. I’m just another tree in it. And I know my position, my capabilities and what my responsibilities are. That is where Art happened in my life,” Prageeth said.
Prageeth Manohansa continues to be an artist with so much potential and symbolic value creating Art pieces that leave behind something for us to think about the art, the market of art, the art critique, the art connoisseur and art discourse as a whole.