To some art is an inborn talent. To other’s it’s a sought after journey. However, for Chathuranga Biyagama, it’s a bit of both. Beginning from his days at kindergarten till today, art and painting has been a deep-routed part of his voyage, be it in his personal or professional aspect of life. Now, as the Managing Director of Gallery Fourlife, Chathuranga has brought into existence the very soul of his passion.
Having schooled in St. Joseph’s College, Colombo 10, Chathuranga achieved many local and international awards. Upon reaching the age of 18 in 2002, he not only applied for and participated in the National State Awards Art, but rather, he also received an excellence award. It further gave him the opportunity to participate in the 11th Asian Art Biennale which was held in Dhaka a year later.
Chathuranga’s next step was to pursue his higher education in a field that was completely non-related to art. Studying Business Management at the University of Bangalore in India from the years 2003 to 2007, Chathuranga specialized in Strategic Management. Moreover, he also graduated with an LLB – Bachelor of Laws – from the Open University of Sri Lanka.
Thereafter, Chathuranga went on to be employed in the corporate world. He began working in Financial and Banking fields in Legal Recoveries and Debt Recoveries. “Art was more a passion; I was practicing as a self-tutored artist but mainly I was focusing on my career till 2014”, he shares. “It was when one of my superiors ill-treated me at work while also trying to give me an unethical job transfer despite working for a leading finance company in Sri Lanka that I began to look beyond the horizon”. And so realizing that there’s more to life than wasting time in the corporate rat race with the kind of unique talent he already possesses, Chathuranga redirected his path back into art.
Rekindling his applications for international art competitions once more, Chathuranga turned his hand into self-practicing. After all, practice does lead to perfection! Receiving an award from Taiwan the very same year that he walked away from the corporate sector, Chathuranga was selected as one of the best amongst 60 other artists across the world. Being selected for the 16th Asian Art Biennale first led him towards being selected as the 17th Asian Art Biennale in 2016 and 18th Asian Art Biennale in 2018. Through his constant achievements, Chathuranga was able to travel across the globe and showcase his pieces of work through exhibitions.
Gallery Fourlife was born in the year 2017 due to the need for participating in the Amsterdam International Art Exhibition in the Netherlands. “My art gallery concept was owning a platform that allowed me to create and organize various art events & exhibitions worldwide”, Chathuranga mentions. “I first exhibited my collections in Oxford, UK followed by London, UK before launching Gallery Fourlife Art Gallery in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2020”.
Today, Gallery Fourlife has become an Asian Icon and a must visit tourist attraction in Colombo’s art scene. The art gallery structures their work progress in a principle manner that ensures a day’s work is done and finalized within the day itself. Focusing on subjects which get least of the audience’s attention, Chathuranga speaks of how they turn their weaknesses into strengths by converting such pieces into the highest rewarded opportunities. “As the Managing Director I not only overlook all the divisions and the sectors but also practically involve myself to work with the team and deliver the maximum output with minimum resources”.
Launching his business just a mere month before the global pandemic took over, Chathuranga recalls being unprepared for such a tragedy. Prioritizing the right set of circumstances and structuring according to the threats faced was one of the reasons as to how Gallery Fourlife was able to pull through – not just amidst the pandemic but through other setbacks too such as the political instability within the nation and the war in Russia that also caused an economic crisis in certain destinations that put Gallery Fourlife in tough spot. Working on aesthetic projects that had economic impacts was also a strengthening factor during such periods.
“Regardless of all these challenges I was able to bring up Gallery Fourlife amongst the top Art Galleries in Sri Lanka while also gaining the chance to launch in India, all of which accounted for great efforts and hard work. Today Gallery Fourlife consists of two subsidiary companies that operate locally and globally as an Asian icon in the world art scene”.
When asked about what sets Gallery Fourlife apart from other art galleries, Chathuranga says, “Sometimes the best creative masterpiece will not be the best marketing art style. Understanding the sensitive facts in aesthetics and commerce is what we are highly focusing on”. The gallery also stands out in terms of how they operate and contribute to the local art scene. “We always give opportunities to the artists who are highly talented and with need while also working on promoting local art talents and marketing the local artist”, he says with pride.
Parting with a few words of inspiration towards the upcoming generation of entrepreneurs and leaders, Chathuranga urges all to focus on their pluses with a keen sense of passion. “It will make you a veteran one day”, he says. “My journey was challenging, hard and full of risk taking with an audience of less supportive people at the beginning. Today I have converted all my threats to opportunities”.