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| Sunday, 15 June 2003 |
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Clay & Fire by Neomi Kodikara Gayan Satyajith Karunaratne talks about what inspired his recent exhibition at VAFA Gallery, Etul Kotte. You do not come across them daily. Inside a cabinet or some other secure place is their usual dwelling. They come out only on very important occasions like when you have very special guests at home. They sit passively in closed dark spaces, not being able to come out and share the life with living people. They are without variety, all look alike, with a fat base and thin neck. Gayan Satyajith Karunarathne felt sorry for them. Yes, for those exquisite ceramic vases. He saw tears beneath beauty. "I wanted to see a vase that carries a bunch of fresh flowers on a window sill or some other place illumined with the bright living sun, a vase keeping alive intimate dialogue with the people amidst their work and rest, laughter and tears," he muses. So the result was a unique assortment of flower vases, different from the norm that satisfies popular taste. They have no smooth and glittering surfaces neither do they have the usual specific bottle-shapes nor are they adorned with paintings. Yet these unsophisticated and simple vases have a beauty unique to them. Inspired and influenced by the local pottery traditions the techniques he used ranged from ancient Greek `terra sigilata' to Japanese `hida suki'. Gayan believes a potter is an artiste and should be given the recognition an artiste deserves. According to him basic aesthetic concepts and shapes behind these ceramic objects were imported to Sri Lanka during the British period from England and other parts of Europe. "But, nobody had the slightest idea that Europe obtained them from China and other parts of Asia," he remarks. Our potters in modern times, did not have the privilege to visit ceramic design or production houses in Europe to have a glimpse of what was going on, regarding the tradition and modernity, art and technology. Nevertheless most officers serving at the Cultural Department and similar state establishments from time to time received the chance to visit Japan," he says while adding that sadly these opportunities have not given much inspiration, knowledge and insight to change the rigid and narrow concepts established in their minds. "So the art of pottery has seen no improvement beyond the shapes of Japanese Sake bottles or Chinese and Korean wine and liquor bottles." Born in Kalutara in 1970, Gayan has completed the BFA degree from the University of Kelaniya. He has also followed a group training course in Ceramic Kiln and Firing Technology in Japan in 2000-2001. At present he works for VAFA as lecturer in the department of Ceramics and Pottery and as a visiting lecturer in the Department of Architecture, University of Moratuwa. "My vases represent a fusion of clay and fire" he says. "Yes, but a little bit of fire from my heart has also gone to make them. That is why I call them `poems made of clay and fire'." |
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