Artist in residence program — 2024 launch

Featuring Contemporary Artist Simon Rozsa

In 2024, Licuala proudly launched its Artist in Residence Program, an initiative celebrating the intersection of art, nature, and mindful living. The program invites contemporary artists from around the world to spend time in our tropical garden retreat, creating new work inspired by the vibrant natural surroundings and cultural rhythms of southern Sri Lanka.

Our first artist in residence, Simon Rozsa, brought his distinct visual language to Licuala. Known for exploring the intersection between painterly gesture and digital form, Rozsa’s practice examines the overflow and impermanence of images in the digital age.

During his residency, Rozsa produced a series of paper-based studies that explored surface, layering, and spatial rhythm — experimental blueprints that would later inform his larger aluminium compositions back in his Sydney studio. Immersed in Licuala’s lush jungle landscape, he drew inspiration from the organic geometries and regenerative cycles of the natural environment — from the rhythmic patterns of palm fronds to the play of light and shadow over the pond.

The residency offered a reflective period for material inquiry and process-driven experimentation, allowing Rozsa to bridge the immediacy of hand-made collage with the precision of digital and industrial methods.

The Licuala Artist in Residence Program continues to provide artists with a space for exploration, contemplation, and creative dialogue — where art grows in harmony with nature.

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