THIS EXHIBITION OF drawings by Sri Lankan artists Chandraguptha Thenuwara and  Jagath Weerasinghe is being staged simultaneously in London and Colombo. The exhibition present the artists’ negotiations of this medium, investigating drawing as a site to negotiate boundaries, politics and formal agility.

Thenuwara and Weerasinghe are among Sri Lanka’s foremost artists and their artistic dialogue spans the last three decades – key years spent bolstering the emergence and grounding of the country’s contemporary art scene. Having met at the University of Kelaniaya in the late 1970s, their interests have since run parallel with sustained exchange and mutual inspiration.

The pairing of these prolific artists considers their current approaches to drawing as practise. Thenuwara Weerasinghe cite publishing house Raking Leaves’  One Year Drawing Project of 2005 as a turning point for their changing attitudes to the medium. Both regard the project’s premise of an exchange of drawing between four leading artists as a period of substantial reconsideration of the medium in their own work. The initiative opened a realisation of the potential, relevance and power of drawing beyond their previous regard for preparatory sketches. The discovery of this new creative discipline has served as an effective tool for Thenuwara and Weerasinghe, voicing complex statements to stark but courageous visual effect.

From 20 September to 10 November, Breese Little, 30d Great Sutton Street, London EC1V, www.breeselittle.com. A catalogue accompanies the exhibition. The exhibition is in Colombo from 2 to 20 October, at the Saskia Fernando Gallery,  www.saskiafernandogallery.com