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Kala
Korner by Dee Cee "I like
the film very much. It is one of Lester's better creations,"
Pierre told me in the midst of a busy schedule during which he spent
most of his time in the cutting room. 'Wekande Walauwe' scripted
by Somawira Senanayake is based on Anton Chekhov's 'Cherry Orchard'
and the story revolves round Sri Lankan society in the 1970s, particularly
the emergence of the new rich. The distributor had seen the film
in Paris and was convinced that it would be appreciated by his audiences
who enjoy art films. Pierre's job was to sharpen it a little and
increase the tempo. Once the job is done, the film will also be
sent to international festivals. Pierre has
seen almost all of Lester's films. "I like 'Gamperaliya' best,"
he confessed. "Possibly I have missed just one film."
From his description, he had not seen 'Sandesaya'. To meet Pierre
at an evening 'do' at Lester's were key players of 'Wekande Walauwe'.
They included
Malini Fonseka who plays the pivotal role of the aristocratic lady
who has to decide what to do with the 'walauwe' having returned
from abroad, Sanath Gunatillake, who urges Malini to dispose of
the mansion, Vasanthi Chaturani(she looks after the mansion when
the lady is away) and upcoming Sandeepani Paboda playing the role
of Malini's daughter. 'Wekande Walauwe' is awaiting its release locally - "hunting for a circuit", as Lester puts it. Windows
to her future The work is
all bright and innovative abstract forms, the media tea, rubber,
graphite, copper and various other natural solids. A tension between
the spontaneously executed and the carefully planned is tangible.
Stringent and dissolved forms between colour fields and lines characterize
the compositions of Olga Dimitri. She herself comments on her pictures
as windows to her future. This artist
has an unusual faith. Growing up in the iron curtain of the Soviet
Union, any free expression was not easy at all. During the era of
perestroika, Olga had conveyed a lot of her ideas in designing interiors
for private offices. She left Russia
in 1993, expressed metaphorically in her painting "wind of
tao" where, she says, "I was swept out of my Moscow environment
and carried to a new, vivid land which always seemed like an unreachable
utopia of my imagination". She has a painting
of her abstract vision and interpretation of Adam's Peak in which
she conveys her belief of Sri Lanka being a Holy Land. Olga will hold an exhibition of her works at the Havelock Place Bungalow from August 16 to 20. Enlightening
darkness To an uninitiated
viewer, Sujith Rathnayake's contemporary works of art, do all this
and much more. Art can leap out of the 'contemporary' niche if the
viewer chooses to view it as such, because Sujith has a curious
discipline to his art. His work is not a confused melee of divergent
themes that sometimes manifest themselves as muddled expressions,
but he has an inherent discipline that comes from within - that
comes from understanding the precepts and grounding techniques all
artists would do well to acquire. He paints in
the most challenging palette of all - the monochromatic, yet through
this sparse channel, the entire spectrum may be viewed, such is
the power of his strokes. His forte is the human anatomy; from his
canvases, figures leap out almost as if they had life. The fluidity,
rhythm and motion of his figures is incredible - the male one, sinewy
with rippling muscles and sleek torsos and the female one - magnificent
in its very imperfections. Sujith's figures are not of the unattainable
proportions that can come only from an imaginative artist's mind,
but are the average ones we encounter in our daily lives. Perhaps
that is why anyone who views his art can find such empathy. The remote
outpost of Ranna, in the Hambantota district, can hardly be termed
as an area that churns out artists. It's a cruel and unrelenting
terrain that is rife with drought, temperamental weather conditions
and the downsides of rural life. Sujith, nevertheless, had the courage
and conviction to follow his dream. "I was
always exposed to art because my father was an artisan of sorts.
He created the intricate paper artistry required for the traditional
Pirith Mandapaya, and he was an artist who created those larger-than-life
cinema billboards too," he smiles. "Those were the days
when computers were non-existent, and as a child, I always helped
him with those huge hoardings. Perhaps my mastery of the human anatomy
stems from that early initiation." Thirty years
old, yet someone who looks like he's just taken a break from school,
slightly built, with a shock of untidy hair, twinkling eyes and
a cheeky winsome smile, Sujith is as warm and expressive as his
art. He has never been afraid of expressing himself in his inimitable
manner. In his series
The Dark Passage Sujith aims to take the viewer through a labyrinth
of mixed emotions. There is a beginning and an end, and the end
is especially poignant - because it depicts a self-portrait, incredibly
realistic, with a cigarette in hand, smoke twirling upwards almost
to eternity. One particular
portrayal shows a group of humans and a shadowy figure lurks in
the background. Hanging on
the placard around its neck, there are the words "Mithra Avatharaya"
(the phantom of friendship), but the spirit here is manifested in
the actual form of a human. It is powerful and unbelievably compelling. Another one
of his works, shows an arm reaching upwards about to turn on a light
switch and the following portrayal is a canvas bathed in light.
Sujith's expressions are what the average person would identify
with - that is perhaps his strongest point. Sujith says
that the turmoil that has shaped Sri Lanka's recent history, especially
the volatile deep south, has had a bearing, not only on his art,
but on the art of every sensitive and emotional artist. Yet he does
not infuse politics in his works. Admitting to a slight touch of
bohemia, it is impossible not to be charmed by this lovable young
man, who within him, nurtures the makings of one of Sri Lanka's
greatest. Black and white
and a touch of red - yes, that is what appears to be the colours
Sujith has painted in, but there is no doubt, that within those
works, moving, shaping and flowing, are all the hues ever imagined.
Within those portrayals there is motion, expression, rhythm, balance,
provocation and soul- stirring emotions. The Dark Passage is no
ordinary showing - in fact the only dark part of this enlightening
journey is its title. An exhibition
of Sujith Rathnayake's recent works titled The Dark Passage presented
by Paradise Road Galleries will be held at the Lionel Wendt Gallery
from August 13 to 15. |
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Ltd. All rights reserved. |
