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| Sunday, 2 June 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Exploring the sublime and the mundane by R. S. Karunaratne Art buying in Sri Lanka is still at a low ebb. However, the few galleries in Colombo bring artists from various parts of the country together under one roof for a couple of days or weeks to promote their art. Hermitage Gallery in the not-so-busy Gower Street in Colombo 5 is the latest venue where artists could demonstrate, interact and speak about their art with prospective buyers. Yasmin Akbarally and Safiya Husain who run the Hermitage Gallery recently exhibited the works of four artists, both senior and junior, who were mostly from Colombo and the suburbs. Their small format paintings were a rare treat to art lovers. "I'd like to stock works of young but promising artists who do not have a platform to exhibit their efforts. I'm sympathetic towards young, emerging artists. It would not be easy to sell their paintings but all that I can reiterate is that unending hard work and patience are the only keys to success in this field," Yasmin Akbarally said taking a break from speaking to art lovers who thronged to the gallery. Unlike those who run other art galleries Ms Akbarally was seen making a genuine effort to get local people involved in buying art. "Ideally, in the opinion of established artists, the buyer should be someone who is in constant touch with the work of the painter, who knows the painter, his pre-occupations and what he is trying to achieve. This is always possible in our context," she said showing me around the gallery. Broadly the four artists had adopted varied media and styles, some traditional and some innovative. The realistic paintings of a veteran like Edwin Batawala took centre-stage with his creations titled Letchumi, Grinding and Ladies that was ideal even to adorn a tourist hotel. In fact, one art collector was completely entranced by the Ladies, an oil painting that depicted the artist's precise and true-to-life approach. His oeuvre showed that he was a disciplined artist fascinated by the beauty of Sri Lanka's rural life. Jagath K. G. Punchihewa who is essentially a caricature artist had depicted Sri Lankan life-style and culture in vibrant colours and dexterous lines. His Trinket seller, Mat with a motif, Loss and gain and Warm Welcome depicted rural men and women involved in their daily routine. The artist had tried to say something serious in a funny way - that itself was a difficult art. One of his paintings showed a man bitten by a snake being carried in pingo fashion to the native physician. They were crossing a rivulet reminding one Kanthaka's leap over the Neranjana river carrying Prince Siddhartha on its back! What is more, the details in his paintings were amazingly accurate. Anura Dahanayake had done several realistic paintings of rural scenes vividly capturing multiple cultures, charms and hues. With water colours he had created a seductive visual sensation-silent and serene. Basil Cooray, being a contemporary artist, too had turned to rural Sri
Lanka for his subject matter. His paintings displayed a lingering, almost
shadow-like beauty. Although the exhibition is over, the four artists had
successfully explored the sublime and the mundane recording in their
inimitable way the fleeting facets and memorable moments of our country,
our people, and our soul. That is really an achievement we could be proud
of. 'Mala Valalu' staged in Paris
Jayalath Manorathne's new Sinhala drama Mala Valalu was for the first time staged in Paris on Sunday May 26 at the Espace Saint-Martin Theatre. There were two shows, a matinee at 3 p.m. and an evening show at 6 p.m. Written and directed by Manorathne, Mala Valalu deals with the tragedies faced by the women folk when they go in search of foreign employment and are compelled to look for new avenues for survival. This is the first time a Sinhala drama was staged in a foreign country and plans are being made to stage the drama in Germany, Australia, Italy, England, Norway, Denmark and Switzerland. The staging of the drama in Paris was sponsored by SriLankan Airlines and organised by the Sri Lanka Cultural and Educational Organisation in France. The next dates of performance of Mala Walalu will be in Stockholm, Sweden on June 8, Copenhagen on June 9 and Berlin on June 15. Jayalath Manorathne has been invited to stage his play in Austria, Zurich and Milano. (Wiruma) Brilliant stained glass in focus An exhibition of drawings, paintings including stained glass paintings of Varuni Hunt will be held from Saturday June 8 to Monday June 10 at the Sapumal Foundation, Barnes Place from 9 am to 1 pm. In accordance with her wishes all proceeds from the sales of her paintings will be used by her trustees for the development and promotion of the fine arts in Sri Lanka. Varuni Hunt became interested in stained glass paintings in 1950 and her work received great impetus when she was commissioned to design two windows for a church in Liverpool. "I like strong colours, colour is in me. Ceylon is so full of it. For me coloured glass is exciting like jewels not like glass at all," she once said. Varuni Hunt spent many years in Japan and held exhibitions which displayed a number of stained glass windows, oil paintings, drawings and sculpture. She designed stained-glass windows for churches in Japan. "Stained glass art is self torture, my reward is in thinking that my work will live on." The exhibition bears testimony to the thoughts of the late Varuni Hunt. |
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