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| Sunday, 24 July 2005 |
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MONOLOGUE : A discourse with the mind by Ranga Chandrarathne The impact made by globalization and the opening up of markets on society and the corresponding changes in the lives and human relationships that are increasingly based on monetary values. These are the themes portrayed on a screen of canvas by the entrepreneuring artist, Chamila Gamage under the apt title of “Monologue”. Chamila, a third year undergrad of the Institute of Aesthetic Studies at the University of Kelaniya, hails from a tiny hamlet of Beliatta in the Southern Province. He had his primary education at Beliatta Central College. His insatiable appetite for Fine Arts from his tender age, lured Chamila into this fascinating field of Humanities. He held his maiden solo exhibition of paintings at the Beliatta Puwakdandawa Maha Vidyalaya in 1999. He further sharpened his inborn talent by following a two-year course in Fine Arts at the Vibhavi Academy. Without wasting his time in entering the University of Kelaniya, he followed a course in Graphic Art at Ingrin University ,and worked for about two years as a Graphic and Illustrator Artist at Past Graphic. The exhibition of paintings titled “ Monologue “, will be held at the Lionel Wendt Gallery from 9 am to 8 pm, from today. The artist has used pigments, shoe polish, clay, wood dye and acrylic; all of which are untraditional materials for his paintings. All in all, the paintings depict, the artist’s loneliness in a world, which has been commercialized to the core. The driving force of this society is not human emotions and feelings of love, brotherhood but the profit motive and the insatiable appetite for wealth and money. Gone are the days of “ High Thinking and Plain living “. Instead, emerges a world of consumerism, that sets a price to everything. There is an owner for every commodity; even “love” is being traded. The onslaught of the market economy and consumerism has overtaken traditional values- genuine friendships have collapsed. All human relations are becoming more and more becoming bogus. They are not dependent on the kinship but only with the flow of cash. Chamila with his paintings strokes, portrays these social frailties in visual forms and the silhouette of the alter ego of a person who has been really tired of being a spectator of this senseless rat race. The painting titled “ MEETING “ portrays many facets of the self: each face symbolizes an emotion, love, fear, triumph, longing for power are some the feelings expressed in different faces of the self. Two paintings titled “ MONOLOGUE”, one a skeleton of a man, sits under a tree stripped of leaves and the other which depicts the mirror image of the self, are the expressions of the unbearable void and loneliness and feeling that is endured, in a world where the self is dissolved in rapidly advancing consumerism that shapes human relationship. The Artist vividly portrays the devastating effect that this transformation has brought about in the lives of the people. They are isolated from one another in midst of the thousands who surround them. |
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