Kos Cos

Born in Sri Lanka into an artistic family, I began drawing and painting at an early age. In the golden age of hand-drawn signage, my playground was my father's agency workshop, where I studied and practised brush skills after school. In 1999, I moved to Hong Kong to work in the advertising and film...

Born in Sri Lanka into an artistic family, I began drawing and painting at an early age. In the golden age of hand-drawn signage, my playground was my father's agency workshop, where I studied and practised brush skills after school. In 1999, I moved to Hong Kong to work in the advertising and film industries. With the evolution of photography, portraiture was an endangered art, but I’ve always been more drawn to portraits than any other types of painting. A human face is complex and changes constantly with mood. When we meet someone, we look at their face to read their emotions and to understand their personality. As an artist, I like to challenge myself, that’s why I’ve never liked doing portraits in a traditional way. I tend to start with short sketchy strokes to capture the essence of the subject's features. Then I use large vividly-colored brushstrokes or through paint directly onto the canvas to add movement and energy so that the whole piece becomes more dynamic and engaging.