Arts

Three decades of fascination with form and shade

Sarath's magical strokes

by Ranga Chandrarathne

Unconventional regime of colours, multiple layers and omni present symbolism, especially of traditional nature, form the flesh and blood of Sarath's unique style of paintings which he had mastered over the years.

In a painting, Sarath depicts many aspects of love; the superficial expression of love with flowers, lovers embracing one another, a physical aspect of it and traditional symbolism associated with love.

Here the colours such as red, green, different shades and hues in diverse layers have been effectively employed to drive home the whole concept of love in a most uncommon diction with traditional symbols at most unexpected places.

Sarath's grammar of painting is unique with strong brush strokes and bright colours. His paintings are like open-books that deserving art fans can read. Often he conveys the message in different colours and hues which are born out of tradition but brilliantly blend with modernity, thus, forming his own grammar of painting.

In another, an act of love is depicted in a red atmosphere where the human forms delude to merge into one, signifying intense moments of a passionate love. Crude and hastiness of the act is amply manifested by the reddish environment with violent strokes, merging with one another in an uneven manner.

Yet, in another creation, Sarath re-creates on a canvas, the intense moments of intercourse. He uses, principally, red, pink and human form and shadowy representation of the elements of nature which is juxtaposed with the mind-set of the lover.

The horse symbolizes the intense feeling of lust which is amply manifested against the reddish environment. This, particular painting is a graphical representation of 'free life' enjoyed by the West. Sarath has taken the colours of the West but implanted them in a traditional context, often creating surreal scenes.

Sarath has also touched upon the nature as yet another fascinating theme which undoubtedly influenced the painter. The Exhibition is, now being held from 11 am to 8 pm at Artist's Gallery No 18A, Sarasavi Udyanaya, Nawala Road, Nugegoda till February 14, 2007.

Born in 1947 in the village of Weligama, to a Buddhist family, H.S Sarath, over three decades, has been engaged in fine arts, defining the form and shade of contemporary art.

Sarath belongs to the post independence generation of Sri Lankan artists who nourished and benefited by the free education.

After his secondary education at Weligama Sumangala Maha Vidyalaya and Siddhartha Maha Vidyalaya, he moved to Colombo to complete a five year course at the Government College of Fine Arts and earned a Diploma in Art.

He has been a one year UNESCO fellowship at the Silpakorn University of Art. Apart from holding 19 sole- exhibitions, Sarath's works have been exhibited in Sao Paolo-Brazil, Cuba, New Delhi, Germany, France, Bangladesh, Seoul and London.

Review:

Sankara - (Introspection)

A journey into the recesses of human mind

by Indeewara Thilakarathne

Perhaps, no Sri Lankan film-maker has ever delved into recesses of the human psyche as Prasanna Jayakody with his maiden film Sankara which won the prestigious Silver Pyramid award at the recently concluded Cairo International Film Festival, one of the coveted awards that a Sri Lankan director won in an international film festival.

Exploiting the intrinsic properties of a moving image and the sound effects which have also been subjugated to the maximum to drive home the inner struggle of a Buddhist, Prasanna has redefined the confines of the conventional cinema which is more or less confined to story telling and often not used as an effective medium to analyse either social malaise or the subtleties of life and human mind.

Here the entire film is woven around a young Buddhist monk who is called to restore graffiti at a temple in a remote hamlet.

The paintings depicting Thelapatha Jatakaya, a Buddhist parable elucidating the ills of the attachment to the sensuous pleasure, are also used as an allegory to indicate the changing modes and emotional states of the young monk, who realises, on completion of the process, that he himself is engrossed with the beauties on the graffiti.

The silent partner who accompanied the young Buddhist monk to the temple, his inner-self , the girl resembling a woman on the paintings, Chief Incumbent of the temple and even the changes of weather ; gush of wind, pouring rain, lightening are characters representing the troubled mind of the young monk.

Prasanna has used very little dialogues, and silence and space play a major role in the film which is encrypted with symbolism that conveys profound meanings of life and the Buddhist concept of Sansara, a continuous cycle of birth and death.

The higher plane of spiritual development is symbolised by the temple on a hillock while the hapless workers in the sugarcane plantation in the valley are the ordinary citizens who are engrossed in their daily schedules, pretty unaware of their plight.

Somaratne Dissanayake and Renuka Balasuriya should be commended for investing their capital on an artistic film. Director Prasanna Jayakody was bold enough to explore the vistas of the medium of film in Sri Lanka with the assistance of the extremely talented crew including Palitha Perera (Camera), make up artist Priyantha Sirikumara and the apt music by Nadeeka Guruge.

Their collective efforts have made an unforgettable visual experience for the deserving Sri Lankan film-goers.

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Mungen Ang (Enemy of the people)

by Ranga Chandrarathne

Namel Weeramuni's adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's 'Enemy of the People "into the Sinhala theatre as Mungen Ang, was recently staged at Namel Malani 'Punchi' theatre. The play is woven around the main character and the protagonist Dr. Thomas Stockmann who is in charge of 'Labugama 'tank which is said to have contained water with medicinal value.

While the city authorities including the Mayor is considering the long-term economic benefits that the tank would bring about and the number of employment opportunities that it would create in the wake of mass arrival of tourists to the city, Dr. Thomas, through his meticulous researches, discovers that the refused water emanating from garbage collecting site goes into the tank, making it poisonous.

He prepares a comprehensive report on the looming disaster and submits it to the Mayor who is his brother, in the hope that it would put an end to the disaster. The recommendations for de-toxifying the tank would incur considerable cost, compelling the authorities to impose an additional levy on the citizens.

The move would adversely affect the future of the elected authorities. Therefore, they decided to silence Dr. Thomas.

The bona fide move brings about an opposition from the public whose will was manipulated by demagogues, depriving Dr. Thomas Stockmann and his daughter of employments and ultimately declaring Dr. Thomas as an 'Enemy of the People'.

It is said that Ibsen wrote "Enemy of the People" in response to his play 'Ghosts' which was critical of the Victorian values and grotesquely described syphilis. What Ibsen intended was to show the inherent defects in democracy and the majority's will is being craftily manipulated by demagogues to achieve their petty ends.

In Namel Weeramuni's Sinhalese adaptation, though the names and certain places have been changed to suit the Sri Lankan context, the original text by and large, remains unchanged in spirit and letter.

The stage management, lighting, and costume design are done with considerable skills, attempting to create a realistic environment on the stage. The cast is made up of Jayamanna (Sarath Kongalage), Gajasinghe (Anil K. Wijesinghe), Katherine (Malani Weeramuni), Peter (Asela Serasinghe), Hudson (Senaviratne Banda), Thomas (Risvan Mohamed), Karannagoda (Susantha Gunatilaka), Petra (Yenita Damayanthi), Babunuwatte (Daya Tennakoon) and others.

Namel Weeramuni should be commended for adapting Ibsen's greatest play into Sinhala at a time, the audience for drama is dwindling, making the production of drama, an unprofitable exercise which gives the much needed food for thought in a cultural desert where audience's minds are disturbed to a greater extent.

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 Unique concert

For the first time in Asia Erik Berglund, singer and harpist from Mt. Shasta, California will give a recital at St. Joseph's College, Chapel Colombo on February 27.

He is a unique artist who combines his extraordinary musical talents with the spirit and power of God's healing gifts.

According to reviews Erik sings like an angel with a refined tenor voice accompanied by the crystalline sounds of his Irish harp and synthesizer orchestration. His music is known for its angelic connection and his latest release the album 'Somewhere' is unique in its creative compositions.

Since he plays an Irish harp, Erik whose background is Norwegian, has played Irish music in the past. But what makes his performances unique are his original compositions inspired by his love of the angels.

Many people have played his recordings to help during times of deep transitions in their lives. In concerts also many emotions are brought forth. The music is so beautiful, many people feel that it reminds them of heaven and the angels.

Some people even see the angelic ones covering the concert hall or church and touching each one present. Erik has eight CDs available which bridge the worlds of angels and healing and touch people deeply. Yet in performance there is a magic that transcends even the recordings.

Other harpists and harp makers are always fascinated to see and try to play his unusual harp. Because of its relative lightness, Erik has been able to travel with it all over the world in very unusual circumstances. He has performed in New York City, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, St. John's Cathedral and the United Nations.

He has performed on a boat, a torch lit cavern in Greece, at Machn Piccu in Peru, the Chalice Well in Glastonbury, the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, at the Great pyramids of Egypt, to the Mount of the Beatitudes above the Sea of Galilee in Israel and fascinatingly played for the dolphins in the islands of Hawaii.

Erik's concerts are unique, uplifting and filled with magical moments that can be cherished long.

The media sponsors for Eric Berglund's recital are Sunday Observer and Daily News.

Close to our hearts by Sahodara Piyapath

Nilar N. Cassim, a veteran electronic mediaman, now an assistant director at Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, approaches the world of Sinhala literature to come close to our hearts by producing Sahodara Piyapath, the wings of fraternity, which is his latest innovation, a composition of verses in Sinhala. Sahodara Piyapath, the wings of fraternity, which in the form of a compilation of poems written by Tamil poets in Tamil and translated into Sinhala is one of his attempts.

"My main objective in this endeavour is to bring about mutual understanding between the Sinhala and Tamil communities and to erase the feelings of hostility among them. It is an attempt to iron out differences between the two communities through the medium of literature.

The cruelty of a war environment in this country is illustrated in these poems. The conscience of the people under war conditions is my target" says Nilar N. Cassim. He further said "Linking the Tamil people with the Sinhala people through the medium of literature is my ambition.

The present launch is my latest poetic innovative. I collected poems for this purpose throughout a period of ten years to introduce Sahodara Piyapath to Sinhala readers."