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| Sunday, 4 August 2002 |
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An artist with a vision When the maestro Kalasuri Jayasiri Semage holds an exhibition of his
paintings, at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery, he is certain to reminisce on
his first held about 50 years ago as a schoolboy. Since then his Semage's expertise is not limited to murals and canvases only. He is a master at the creation of large scale outdoor show pieces - to be specific, the decorative archways or thoranas, and one such erected to mark the 50th anniversary of Sri Lanka's political independence (in 1998) was 6 meters in height and 40 in length. And several such stupendous artistic displays by him marked the entrance to the annual Gam Udawa exhibitions of around 15 years ago. The rewards and the plaudits that he has won for the few decades that have gone by are numerous indeed, and he is now making preparations for another exhibition to be held at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery.Large or small, the characteristic Semage touch was and is evident in them all. It has to be so because firstly, he was born with it, and secondly, he was never tutored by any 'master' and does not belong to any 'school' or 'group'; and if ever he belongs to a tradition, it is the local, with inspiration drawn from Sigiriya and the sittara works of a later date. It is the curve that is supreme in our traditional art, and it is that curve which this maestro multiplies into living and non-living forms, all of which he orders into a harmonious unity. And it is this curve that makes all such forms within that unity pulsate with life. When it comes to colours, Semage seems to be just second to nature herself. His choice of pigments can hardly be improved upon, and more - he uses them with delicacy with his brush caressing the canvas, as it were, that a search for garishment would be in vain. Each gentle shade blends into yet another in the same soft pleasing rhythm of his curves that one's eye would glide over them with the same daintiness as the artist's own caress. 'Semage's latest art exhibition titled 'Damsels' will be held from August 8-11 at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery. Prof. Vini Vitharana, Editor-in-Chief, Sinhala Dictionary. ===================== 'Shattered Barriers' by ANJANA GAMAGE
An artist for the past thirty years he has won many prestigious awards, but never pursued publicity. He does not belong to any school of art and does not have pupils. Ordinary people who share life's struggle with him have been his tutors. He made an effort to depict their laughter, tears, joys and sorrows on the canvass. Now these emotions are portrayed in a painting exhibition titled "Shattered Barriers". Walter Kulasooriya's third solo exhibition "Shattered Barriers" will be held at the Harold Peiris Gallery of Lionel Wendt from August 9 to 11 from 10.00 am to 7.00 p.m. The Minister of Public Administration Management and Reform Vajira Abeywardena, Minister of Economic Reforms, Science and Technology Milinda Moragoda will be the guests of honour and the exhibition will be declared open by the Governor of the Central Bank A.S. Jayawardana, veteran media personnel Edwin Ariyadasa and the chief editor of "Silumina" Thilakaratne Kuruwita Bandara."Born in Vannihathpaththuwa of Kurunegala district and educated at Mahananneriya government mixed school till S.S.C., I had the talent for art from my young days. I still remember that I used to draw on the walls with a black chalk," reminisces Kulasooriya.
From 1997 to 2001 he has won the Presidential Award for the Arts competitions held by the Ceylon Society of Arts. The State Award for the Arts and Sculpture was won by him for the year 2000 as well. The interesting expressions in the many paintings at the "Deer Park" of Giritale and Le Kandyan Hotel, Kandy and Sola Garden of Galle, belong to his artistic creativity. "I am little known in Sri Lanka. But there are many of my paintings in every corner of the world. Most of them are in France and Germany,he said. According to him French Ambassador Marie France Pagner will be assisting him to organise a painting exhibition in France before the end of this year. He is the only Sri Lankan painter who has his own website on http:/www.tradenetsl.lk/chathuri/index.html ===================== The buzz behind the mask Rehearsals are in full swing now for the staging of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Phantom of the Opera' which will go on the boards for a twelve day run commencing October 17 at the Lionel Wendt Theatre. Jerome de Silva whose last production the Lion King was a major success for him and his Workshop players is quite confident that this production of Webber's the Phantom of the Opera will turn out to be another "memorable production." "Actually it is a big challenge for me. Besides directing the musical, I'm playing the role of the Phantom and designing all the sets. After something like eighteen years I'm playing the lead role in one of my productions. I saw a production of the musical in Singapore in '95 and on Broadway in '99 and I told myself it could happen on our stages too." comments Jerome de Silva when we enquired about the happenings behind the wings. Ranga Dassanayake will be handling the arrangement of the music tracks we understand, the singers will have hi-fidelity mikes concealed in their costumes and with Thushan Dias' modern lighting effects the musical is bound to be lavish. Curious about the other lead singers? Forty - five aspiring singers responded to Jerome de Silva's advertisement in May this year and the role of Christine Daae, the young opera singer whose emotions are torn between the Phantom her tutor in singing lessons, and her childhood sweetheart Viscount Raoul de Chagny will be played by young Serala Athulathmudali. Three singers will be in the run for Carlotta, Christine's rival. The reason being that de Silva will be scheduling the three singers on different nights and on the nights they are not in the role, the singers will switch to the chorus. Manoj Singanayagam and Dushantha Weeraman will play Viscount Raoul. "We are having intense rehearsals on Thursdays and Sundays which includes singing sessions and exercises, theatre sessions and relevant exercises and two hours of performances. The enthusiasm amongst the cast is great" reveals Jerome de Silva who is confident that his singers will pull off their roles with panache. The Workshop Players was formed in 1992 and has since then staged acclaimed productions such as Lost in the Stars, West Side Story, Cats, Les Miserables and Lion King. Now Phantom of the Opera will be another feather in their cap and all they ask of you is your enthusiastic patronage. Mahes Perera ===================== Kinsmen of the father J.B. DISANAYAKA Father's brothers are called 'uncles' in English. The English word 'uncle' is generally translated into Sinhala as 'ma:ma:' but this word is not used in Sinhala to refer to the brothers of one's father. Instead, a set of terms indicating whether the brother is older or younger than the father is used. These terms again differ from region to region or from family to family. In standard Sinhala, where the father is called 'ta:tta', his elder brother is called 'loku ta:tta'. In Sinhala, the adjective 'loku' means 'big' huge' or 'large'. In 'loku ta:tta' it implies 'big in age' or 'elder'. In certain regions he is called 'mahappa:' which is a word that combines the two words 'maha' (great or big) and 'appa:' (father). In Kandyan Sinhala, where the father is called 'appachchi' his elder brother is called 'loku appachchi'. In certain Kandyan regions 'loku appachchi' is replaced by 'bakkappachchi' in which the adjective 'bakka' means 'big' or 'huge'. A man who wears a large mask that covers his head is nicknamed 'olu bakka:' which literally means 'the big head'. These Kandyan villagers describe any huge thing as 'bakkan'. The younger brother of the father is called 'ba:ppa' in standard Sinhala. It is a combination of the two words 'ba:la' and 'appa:' in which 'ba:la' means 'young'. Among the Kandyans he is called "kudappachchi' or 'kudappa:'. The Sinhala adjective 'kuda:' means 'small' or 'little'. The 'kuda:' occurs even in personal names of Kandyans, as in 'Kuda Banda'. |
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paintings
have graced the walls of thirty other galleries, seven of them overseas. A
few of his works may be seen on permanent display in the Buddhist Viharas
of Malaysia, Singapore, Penang and Colombo, and the UN Headquarters in
Geneva - the first and only exhibit by an Sri Lankan there.
