S.H. Sarath received 2017 ‘Kala Soori’ National Honors for Arts awarded by the President of Sri Lanka. In 2018, exhibition of paintings and drawings to mark his 50 years in the field was opened by the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka . ‘SH Sarath Retrospective-88’ sponsored by and held at the British Council Colombo was held to mark 20 years in the profession.In 2019, the Film Corporation awarded him with a Certificate of Honor for his contribution to the Sri Lankan cinema as a Art Director.
From 1979-80 Sarath studied in the Silpakorn University of Fine Arts Bangkok ,Thailand on a UNESCO Fellowship and from 1995-96 studied Visual Arts and Print Making at the University of South Australia Adelaide. He is a Diploma holder in Painting and Sculpture from the Government College of Fine Arts Colombo Sri Lanka where he studied Arts from 1968-73.
He was the Vice President of the Ceylon Society of Arts from 1982-83 and thereafter served as the member of the Arts Panel of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs for 25 years. He was a visiting lecturer at the Faculty of Education of the University of Colombo and worked as a Project officer for Arts at the Ministry of Education. Presently he serves as a visiting lecturer to the University of the Visual and Performing Arts Sri Lanka.
Consecutively for 3 years from 1971 to 1973 and in 1977 he was awarded the first prize for oil paintings at the Annual Exhibition of the Ceylon Society of Arts. In 1971 he won the first prize in the ‘Lenin Century Exhibition’ organized by the Soviet Embassy Sri Lanka. As a stage decoration artist he won the first prize for Stage Decor at the National Drama Festival in 1985. In 2006 he was awarded a certificate for print making at the 7th Triennial Modiale Paris.
Among the highlights of his participation locally and Internationally are, the 1975 country representation at the XIII Biennial de Sao Paulo Brazil, 1978 & 1982 4th Triennial 1986 Sixth Triennial 1991 Seventh Triennial New Delhi India, 1981 Festival of Sri Lanka Contemporary Paintings at the Commonwealth Institute London with ‘Sri Lankan Artists 43 Group’ ,1983 & 1989 2nd and 4th Asian Biennial Bangladesh,1985 2nd Asian show Fukouka ,Contemporary Asian Art Show Seoul , 1986 2nd Segunda Biennial De La Havana , 1989 4th Asian Biennial Bangladesh ,1989 VSO Exhibition London , 1991 ‘Art for a Fairer World’ Oxfam London, 1992 ‘Art for a Fairer World’ Oxfam at Art Gallery and Museum Klevingrove Glasgow, 1992 First SAARC Festival Kund Palace Gallery Trivandrum, National Gallery of Modern Art New Delhi,2003 6th & 2006 7th Triennial Modiale Paris.
Commencing from his first solo Exhibition in Sri Lanka at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery Colombo in 1974 he held and more than twenty five solo exhibitions at the same venue. In 1988,Under the sponsorship of the British council Colombo a retrospective exhibition was held at the British council to commemorate his Twenty years as Painter. His 42nd solo exhibition was sponsored and
held at the Alliance Francaise Kandy.Among major solo exhibitions abroad are the first solo exhibition in 1979 at the Presidents Hotel Bangkok sponsored by the Sri Lanka Embassy Thailand, 1980 Devan Penang Hall Malaysia, 1984 Kreissparkasse Bank Stuttgart,1985 Young Hall Gallery & Ecka Art Colony Yugoslavia,1996 Adelaide Fringe Festival Nexus Gallery & Flinders University Adelaide, Art Space Gallery University of Western Sydney,1994 & 2002 Aud Signe Gallery Stavangar,2006 Belconnen Gallery Canberra sponsored by ACT Government,2000 Foyer Gallery Ottawa ,2008 United Nations Geneva and 2018 United Nations New York.
In 1993 Sarath designed the Sri Lanka Western Provincial Council Flag which is still in use.
Sarath participated in several Artists’ Camps’.Among them are Ecka Yugoslavia in 1985, SAARC Sri Lanka 2011, Bangladesh Sri Lanka Art Camp Colombo in 2019 and in 2020 participated in the exhibition at the National Museum Gallery Dhaka to celebrate the 100th Birth Anniversary of the Founder of Bangladesh.
At present his works are displayed at the exhibition of Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Sri Lanka.
Few prominent permanent collections of his paintings and drawings in Sri Lanka are the National Gallery, UNICEF, National Development Bank ,Ceylinco Group, Bandaranaike International Airport, Commercial Bank. At Ecka Gallery Yugoslvia, Fukouka Japan, Audsigne Gallery Stavanger, United Nations Geneva are few places abroad any many private collections.
1980 Asia Week Magazine vol 6 No 4, 1984 Fellbacher Kulturleben No.1772 West Germany, 1983 Stavanger Aftendbald, Journel of Business and Economics Nagasaki University,1995 the Advertiser Australia 4th July 1995 UNESCO ASIA Vol 12 No.2,2005 /2006 Art Asia Pacific Almanac Vol 1, 1980 carried Articles of his works in addition to Sri Lanka and other foreign media.