Our young generation of painters

by Gwen Herat

There is an abundant wealth of talent in our country and her painters come in their glory, exhilarating freshness and impatience, to do what is mighty with the brush, to conquer the world in their chosen field and they are impatient to do it.

To these young painters, the bright lights of the artistically and economically thriving city of Colombo as well as the sombre of their rural environment on which many have habitated, offer stimulating subject matter. The young painter can and must learn to develop his artistic skills.

He may have to learn his technical rudiments from his 'guru' or from his locality. Books may have helped him. He may even have been inspired by the famous masters and their particular skills and painting habits.

Another may have been nurtured by contacts with contemporary visions. But most local painters are gripped by wall paintings found in our temple where Buddhist culture is found therein.

We do not have Renaissance artists who may have at some stage been inspired with their work on trips abroad. We do not need the Renaissance culture in our country. Our country is so rich in her culture and heritage found in her historical ruins, the poetry found in stone structures and the mighty ocean that surrounds the island, is abundant with subject matter.

Our flora, fauna, the changing seasons offer ample inspiration which overflows the mind. The beautiful oriental woman are unprecedented in our lifestyle and can cause our artists to be of avant-gards status. It is the determination and ability, to face the challenge that will finally find our paintings at Sotheby's or Christies where millions of dollars are traded upon them.

Sounds great? Yes, it is possible.

When I visit an exhibition and view the paintings at random, I have discovered new influences, emphasis on sharply observed realism. I have also discovered incisive lines and classical subjects but not mythology and observed calm symmetry seeped in them but I have not come across one individual who is abundant with all these graces put together.

They are irrationally distributed among many, thus not making one painter fulsome. Most depend on their drawing ability.

The intensity with which our young generation of painters indulge in, must be enhanced to reach near perfection. Being satisfied is a bad habit. Striving to do better by studying our own masters and the ones especially from Italy and the Continent, will lift the spirits of our artists and take our art into sizzling international heights.

All our painters are allowed the complete freedom to work on basic design, pictorial compositions and visions of minds. Life drawings, are an integral part of art and necessary to develop the painting until it reaches perfection. Colour, light effects, sun and gloom....they all play a vital part in the production.

It is the duty of the arts authorities in the country to rekindle the embers that still glow from the past, and cause the ability and skill which are inherent to find lasting strength, individual excellence and the spirit of the nation.

The painters I have selected for this article were done at random and not necessarily the best nor the worst. They and the rest are obviously talented in their own chosen subjects. They have the future before them and it is a matter of time and spirit to achieve fame for their country.