Semage's Singaporean Vesak

Unlike in Sri Lanka, the Vesak festival in Singapore this year will be held on the second of June. It is because the extra full moon that falls on this year's lunar calendar was reckoned as Vesak by Singapore Buddhists.

Participating in the Vesak celebrations, the Buddhist Library in Singapore is holding an exhition of Buddhist paintings by the internationally renowned Sri Lankan artist Kalasuri Dr. Jayasiri Semage. The exhibiton, which was officially inaugurated on Sunday, May 17, is being sponsored by Sri Lanka Telecom.

Samage, who arrived in Singapore with a collection of his work, has been busy the past week, making preparations for the solo exhibition. As a matter of fact, Singapore is where he had his first solo exhibition three decades ago and since then he had several commitments in Malaysia and Singapore to paint the walls of some Buddhist temples.

The Vesak exhibition is being held at the Buddhist Library Art Gallery and is open to the public free of charge till June 3. It was inaugurated by Venerable Dr. Bellanwila Dhammaratana Maha Thera, the chief sanghanayaka of Singapore. Semage believes art is one strong link that binds cultures together, He has taken Sri Lankan traditional art, mainly Buddhist in spirit, to many corners of the world. Not only in Asian countries but also in the West and even in Arabian countries he was warmly accepted as a cultural ambassador.

In fact, many Sri Lankan embassies abroad (Manila, Sweden, and Bangkok) have chosen to have some of his printings to be on permanent display to be representative of Sri Lankan traditional art. However, Semage does not slavishly adhere to traditional style of painting. He has absorbed many modern elements to his unique style and developed his own visual language.

His distinguished style is so unique that no signature is needed to identify his works. However his deep roots in local art tradition inspired by Buddhist values are so strong that his Sri Lankan identity is highly prominent in his work making him easily qualified to be an ambassador of arts and culture of Sri Lanka. It might have been the reason for him to be assigned with the task of designing Sri Lanka pavilion at Expo exhibitions held in Japan, Korea, Spain, Portugal and China, providing a vignette of local aesthetics.

Moreover, in consequence to his exhibition in Switzerland, Semage's painting titled 'Hands that Feed' was chosen for permanent display at the main hall of UN Centre, Geneva. Beyond doubt, Semage seems to be the most representative artist of Sri Lankan pictorial arts.

Semage's paintings being showcased in Singapore portrays a cross section of Sri Lankan Buddhist culture in lines and colours. Village life, flora and fauna, cultural events and many other representative themes are beautifully depicted along with historical events, rituals and ceremonies in his paintings, They also contain traditional decorative motifs, Singapore art lovers would definitely love to see this cultural profile since they have maintained close cultural relationships with Sri Lanka for many years. In fact the two storied shrine hall of Mangala Vihara in Singapore is visited by many Buddhists and non-Buddhists especially because of colourful paintings Semage has cone on its walls.

-Prof. Chandima Wijebandara

graduate school of Buddhist Studies, Singapore