Cinnamon Red creates space for wall art

Michael Ondaatje in, In the Skin of a Lion said, “Everyone has to scratch on walls somewhere or they go crazy!” For Cinnamon Red, scratching, or rather painting on surfaces was surely the way to empower young artists to express themselves, giving them the freedom to use whatever medium they are comfortable with, to produce colourful expressive art on each floor of their five storey car park.

Just a glimpse of the longest wall in the car park is mesmerising. One of the four groups, P413 consisting of 15 members led by Niruban Satchithanandakumar has used multiple techniques to depict happiness through smiling joyful Flowerbots. Niruban, an accountant, is the creative mind behind the group.

Assisted by his friends Sanjayan Ariadurai, Chrishan de Mel and 12 others, they have together created a wall art which is surely the harbinger of delightful thoughts, placing the Cinnamon Red car park into an unusual space of instilling an instant sense of joy to those driving in. But that’s not all. For those parking on the 5th storey, passing those hues of blues, greens, purples and touches of yellow that form an eclectic mosaic background to one of Sri Lanka’s most beloved modes of transport – the three-wheeler – the work P413 also brings to mind the fact that while the four wheel modes of transport would herald upward mobility to people, it is the three-wheeler that infuses the reality of life into a daily work day.

In fact, P413 holds a Guinness World Record having produced the world’s largest paper mache structure, prior to their pushing their creative boundaries on the Cinnamon Red walls.

Creative pieces

Based on a competition that called for applications from creative young people, P413 was just one of 10 semifinalists selected by three eminent judges in July this year, of which six were chosen to be showcased at Cinnamon Red.

The artists were asked to paint their creative pieces on plywood for judging purposes, before the final six were chosen to place their creative works on the walls of Cinnamon Red.

Bringing in these artists to add tone, vibrancy, depth and colour to what would normally be a drab car park, articulates Cinnamon Red’s promise of being different, where lean luxury means more than simply product and service offerings befitting the Cinnamon brand.

Speaking of this unique concept of showcasing wall art – an art form that has its roots in the Catacombs of Rome and in Pompeii – Deputy Chairman of JKH Ajit Gunewardene, a firm believer in empowering young people to optimise their creative prowess, said: “One of our strongest social platforms within the entire group has been to empower young artists - whether contemporary or traditional - giving power to their art form.

Our work with the George Keyt Foundation epitomises this.

The Cinnamon Red wall art is special to us; special because it allows an indigenous city hotel to showcase our country’s very own creativity, giving emerging young artists the space to express themselves and expose their works to the guests who visit us.

I hope this wall art becomes a conversation piece among the art world because it displays not only the talent and creativity that needs to be extracted from our young artists, but it also exemplifies that wall art is an expressive art form that must be taken seriously.”

Graphic design graduate from the University of Northumbria (in collaboration with AOD in Colombo) Ruwangi Amarasinghe’s Bird Ride is almost a caricature of what life is, and could be at Cinnamon Red. Inspired by the hospitality industry coupled with the vibrancy of the Cinnamon Red team whose commitment touched her immensely as did the core values of the hotel, the large blue bird speaks of an airplane carrying the varied clientele to Cinnamon Red.

The astuteness of the business traveller is depicted by a fox in a business suit, whose excitement at staying at this lean luxury hotel has him spilling his coffee, while the cat on the cloud is symbolic of comfort.

Assisted by Indula Amarasinghe, Shanika Perera and Sunara Jayamanne, Ruwangi also has a lady chick chilling by the rooftop pool imbibing in the panoramic view, while the gadget bearing bear displays the technologically driven product and service offerings at Cinnamon Red.

The only artist to bravely take on the challenging yet most ubiquitously used aerosol colours for his art wall is Hamza Ahamed, the only Sri Lankan who has been at Molotow, a festival that features some of the best and finest international graffiti artists.

At just 18, Hamza aka Mad H has already won numerous awards and counted his 42nd graffiti work when he completed his Face and Graffiti at Cinnamon Red.

Typically contemporary in style, Hamza’s wall art here is almost scathing, with adjectives hot, red and fire coming to mind, almost urging Cinnamon Red to break new ground and trail-blaze its journey within the industry.

A simple depiction of an Ambalangoda mask, yet one that has an intense complexity surrounding it is found in Hash Bandara and Umanga Samarasinghe’s wall art at the fourth level.

Hash, a graphic designer and Umanga a fashion designer dabbling in graphics and photography, combined their latent creativity to depict the artistry that surrounds Sri Lanka in its culture, its history and its people.

Placed on a wall that has subtle depictions of constellations which may place Sri Lanka as a bright star in the universe; the mask sits on a background depicting the elements of the sea on one side, and the beauty of the country’s flora on the other. In analysis, it is probably meant to create anticipation for guests, urging them to experience and explore the diversity of this beautiful island.

It is indeed a first in the art world and as well as the tourism industry in Sri Lanka that a hotel has created the space for emerging artists to verbalise their thoughts on canvases of brick and mortar.

As General Manager Cinnamon Red Terrence Fernando said, “We have such an abundance of talent in various creative form and wall art is certainly one of them.

Just take a look at these walls and see how expressive our young artists can be when given the encouragement and the space to be as communicative as they want through their most passionate talent, their art.

The boldness, vibrancy and the expression of creativity is what Cinnamon Red is about and these artists have enabled those elements to be expressed even more clearly through their illustrations.”