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| Sunday, 11 May 2003 |
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New art from Sri Lanka Serendipity: London's first ever survey of contemporary art from our country This non-profit venture of the Serendib Gallery, Colombo is a presentation of Sri Lankan painting, installation, sculpture, mixed media work, poetry, dance and music in association with the October Gallery of Bloomsbury, London. It is the first major exhibition of Sri Lankan art outside the shores of Sri Lanka, since the 43 group exhibited in London half a century ago.
Twelve artists were selected to represent the broad spread of artistic production. The diversity evident in this selection invites Londoners to explore a profound artistic wealth that does much to challenge expectations of nationality in art. The exhibition had a very successful preview on the March 19 with the Sri Lankan High Commissioner, Faiz Musthapha and his wife, the deputy High Commissioner Ms. Kshenuka Seneviratne and Mohan Daniel of the Serendib Gallery being present amongst a large gathering of art lovers and critics. Still running in London it will move to other locations in the United Kingdom terminating with an exhibition at Lincoln in February/March 2004. For this exhibition at the October Gallery a series of special events titled - "Serendipity a festival of new arts from Sri Lanka" was arranged. A night of classical Tamil music had singer Manickam Yogeswaran performing to a very appreciative audience with a selection of musicians playing violin, miridangam, and morsing (Jewish harp). Yogeswaran was the first Tamil vocalist ever to sing in a major Hollywood film as part of Jocelyn Pook's soundtrack for Stanley Kubrick's last film Eyes wide shut 1999. Yogeswaran was born in Sri Lanka. An evening of Bharatanatyam had Anusha Subramanyam perform a selection from the Bharathanatyam repertoire. A teacher for seventeen years in the UK, Anusha is part of the long tradition that has revitalized, restructured and re-interpreted harathanatyam in a contemporary context. Acclaimed cellist 'Rohan de Saram and friends' performance is looked forward to on cello, tampura and piano. He will perform works specially devised for cello, piano and tampura by Jonathan Mayer, with Druvi de Saram on piano, and the composer on tampura.
Finally to end this festival of Sri Lankan events, will have Preshanthi Navaratnam. Sri Lankan opera singer performing a piece combining the work of Mendelssohn, and Sri Lankan composer Devasuriyasena, as well as works by Strauss, Debussy, Brahms and Sri Lankan Norman Corea. Preshanthi has performed widely, interpreting Benjamin Britten at the Royal Albert Hall, 'Jerry Springer the opera' at the Edinburgh Festival, Madame Butterfly with the English Festival Opera. And the 'Child of Jago' at the Purcell Rooms. She is currently working on the Brahms Requiem. A Seminar too is scheduled to be held with artists, curators and writers in the field of Sri Lankan art along with a series of workshops by Sri Lankan sculptress, Malathie de Silva whose work draws from Buddhist approaches to life and the rhythms and forms and nature. Delicately carved from stones such as marble, alabaster and serpentine, Malathie will demonstrate the tools she uses to construct her sculpture. The twelve artists whose work is being presented are Tissa Ranasinghe whose monumental bronzes extend the exhibition into the courtyard garden. Malathie de Silva's recent series of fluid marble and serpentine sculpture, designed for handling and feeling, are complemented by specially commissioned poetry from Jane Russell. A remarkable, previously unseen series by the photographer, Dominic Sansoni, documents over twenty years research into Sri Lanka's Ganesh shrines. Chaminda Gamage's paintings explore indigenous objects that have been 'borrowed' by the west. Jagath Ravindra uses acrylic on canvas to explore themes of the Sri Lankan soul in isolation. Sudath Abeyesekera the winner of the Royal Overseas Travel Scholarship for 2002, which enabled him to work and study in Scotland, depicts Michelangelo's David as an icon for his generation using collage and strong colours. Pradeep Chandrasiri's paints with reference to past social struggles and Wijelatha Edirisinghe's satirical mixed media reliefs belie her keen sense of political irony. Kinngsley Gunatilleke's series on the displaced woman in soft tones and Sujith Rathnayake's acrylic on canvas both question an individual's position in history. T. Shanaathanans's dark and surreal visions present with great poignancy life in war ravaged Jaffna. |
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