The Deeper Side of Roy Shaa

Who is Roy Shaa?

The symbolic voice of artist Roy Shaah Shiras

My name is Roy Shaah Shiras (born August 29, 1976) — the symbolic voice behind the name Roy Shaa

I created Roy Shaa not as a brand or a nickname, but as a quiet, symbolic identity — a space where I can create without filters, pressure, or explanation. Roy Shaa is not the performer. Roy Shaa is the one who listens.

As an artist, I am not trying to impress, decorate, or explain. I use symbols, textures, and abstract forms to explore what is spiritual, emotional, and deeply human. I work with acrylic paints, but I treat them like stories — mixing colors to create the illusion of scars, ash, and gold. Nothing is real metal. Nothing is imitation. Everything is intention.

The lion that rises through the surface…

The ash that hides a golden mark beneath…

These are not decorations — they are reminders. Symbols of what we carry, what we hide, and what still lives inside.

I don’t paint for the eyes.

I paint for what lives beneath the surface.

Why the name Roy Shaa?

Roy Shaa is the side of me that doesn’t need praise or permission. It’s the name I give to the part of me that paints with instinct and silence. I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma now — but my roots go back to Sri Lanka, and those roots are full of memory, mythology, and quiet battles. Roy Shaa is the part of me that still carries all of that — and tries to turn it into something that others can feel.

Roy Shaa is not a product.

Roy Shaa is a question mark, a scar, a light under dust.

Roy Shaa is the unseen story, waiting to be revealed.

It took more than 48 years to discover the language to express what lies beyond words—not due to a lack of tools, but because time was needed to truly understand. I had to live through both silence and noise to feel their weight, distinguish their difference, and grasp their true meaning. Silence is the space where truth gathers; noise is the clutter that conceals it. Only after decades of deep listening could I hear clearly enough to create this work.

I don’t paint what I see — I paint what insists on being felt.

— Roy Shaah Shiras, as Roy Shaa