Biography

Welcome!
I was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, a country whose physical beauty has earned it the tag "Pearl of the Orient." It is in this exotic tropical world that the roots to Inoka's art can be found.

My Education
The passion in her work was recognized early in my childhood, and at the age of 15 I was accepted into the renowned Surikov Academy of Fine Arts in Moscow, Russia. I graduated with distinction, receiving my Master of Fine Arts from the Surikov, a degree recognized by Canada's University of Toronto.

In Russia, I was schooled in the tradition of the old masters, undertaking intensive study of their techniques and methods. As a student I had access to some of the world's greatest art, found in the Pushkin Museum and The Hermitage. It was from this art that I developed the combination of realism and impressionism that has become the trademark of my personal style.

About my Paintings
"For me, the world presents endless possibilities--whether it be landscape, portraiture, or still life." All are genres that I mastered. My strongest desire is to feel the painting, to let the painting speak for itself. I won my first art competition in kindergarten and went on to win awards from that day forward. At the age of 15, I won the 12th annual Festival of Arts for Youth for my painting My Dream-- a haunting portrayal of the private lives of women in the Far East. This painting currently hangs in the Bulgarian Embassy in Moscow. In another painting, The Harlequin (held in a private collection) I juxtaposed the outward character of this ancient comic servant with that of pathos, creating a work that visually expresses the complex relationship between human joy and sadness.

My Vision
"I love colour and its life within light and shadow," "The memory of colour stays with me as I paint. In Sri Lanka the intense sun lent itself to hot interpretations of colour that I can only describe as jewel-like. In Russia, colour became, for me, much colder and very bold. Here in Canada, I have melted the two together."

My Career
Over the last 25 years I have had countless shows around the world such as Ottawa, Ont., Vancouver B.C., Los Angeles, Ca., New York, New York and Russia Moscow.

As my desire for design and creation grows as well as my need to expand and enhance my creativity, my designs have moved into the next era of digital creativity, spending 2 years attending and graduating from the Vancouver Art Institute of Graphic Design..

Love Inoka