Courtesy of The Island, 27 August 2015, 12:00 pm
Vernon Tissera while at work on his Sangakkara portrait which will be presented to the legendary Sri Lankan cricketer in Australia this December. There was a host of accolades presented to Kumar Sangakkara the day, August 24, 2015, the renowned Sri Lanka cricketer bid adieu to the international arena. A piece of remarkable painting shown to Sangakkara that day was in a way a silent ‘payback’ to an innings that gave all Sri Lankans an added prestige.
This art, portraying a momentous cover-drive in the background of an iconic ‘Smiling Sanga’, is to be presented to this legend at a ceremony, end of this year in Melbourne by a remarkable Lankan migrant artist named Vernon Tissera.
“We owe a lot to Sangakkara’s humility and generousness. I remember he conducted a coaching camp upon our invitation for a group of kids consisting many nationals the other day he was in Australia. He came to it with an injured arm. That too after some of his team-mates asked us how much we were going to pay them and some had conveniently skipped the event to go shopping. I present this to Sanga purely for his genuine intention of committing his time for the kids,” said Tissera, a versatile artiste who began his career in the Sinhala film industry in the early 1980s.
Residing in Australia for over two decades now, Tissera has impressed global stars in the caliber of Michael Jackson by his astonishing paintings. His portrait can still be found in what was to be the late Jackson’s personal collection in USA.
“I only wanted to show Sanga my work on that final day of his career. That’s why I brought it all the way to Sri Lanka. But the formal presentation will be made when Sangakkara will be in Australia this December for the Big Bash series,” added Tissera.