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| Sunday, 18 December 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Arts 21st Century Picasso by Aditha Dissanayake
Having long names however, is not the only thing Malavi has in common with Picasso. His work too has been compared with the paintings of one of the greatest painters of the last century. Recently returned from an exhibition held in Germany for the Asia Pacific Week, Malavi says the moment the German art connoisseurs saw his work they exclaimed "like a Picasso". The exhibition, organized by the Sri Lanka Embassy in Germany had been immensely successful, recalls Malavi. "There were several buyers for most of the paintings, specially for the one called Tsunami. A thirteen year old German girl stared at it for a long time and begged her father to buy it for her. Even though lots of other people too wanted to buy it I let her father, Katthiag Dobler buy the painting." Among the other works on display, ranging from the "Subconscious Mind" to "Lust", to "Satisfaction's and to an "Unusual friendship" depicting two women in a tight embrace, special attention had been paid to the one titled "Mysterious girl" because it was distinctly different from the others. Having worked at the Sri Lanka Tourist Board for twenty two years, Malavi says things have changed since the days of yore, when every picture, every letter had to be handdrawn or pasted. Today Technology is doing all the work while Creativity has taken a backstage. He says he is grateful to his teacher H.A Karunaratne and that he has visited art galleries and museums all over the world, from Paris to Stockholm, London to Denmark, in order to gain international exposure, and to broaden his knowledge of various art forms. Soft spoken and gentle in his ways, Malavi says he'd rather be remembered for his paintings than for the awards he has won and does not wish to talk about himself. He has however, words of advice,simple and direct, for all upcoming young artists, "Stick to what you enjoy doing, and you will know the happiness and serenity that one experiences at the creation of a work of art". NPAS holds 13th international exhibition
NPAS established in 1950 with the patronage of late Wilson Hegoda is presently the most premier organization in Sri Lanka, promoting photography as an art and science. The dissemination of knowledge to the ordinary citizen of Sri Lanka as a whole,and encouraging students to take up photography not as a hobby but as a profession. Normally an exhibition is held by the society every year for promoting the educational aspects of photography, as well as advancing the standard of photography as an art. NPAS is the sole representative of the Federation of International art Photography (NPAS), the governing international body of photography. Nearly 25 countries have participated in this exhibition, having submitted about 500 photographs, and Vietnam has won the highest number of awards for the best artistic creation in their country. The exhibition committee expects to exhibit about 200 photographs at this exhibition. Alu Yata Gini : A novel cinematic experience by Ranga Chandrarathne Alu Yata Gini, a film exposing abuse of power by politicians who were elected by uneducated farmers, is now being screened at cinemas islandwide. The story unfolds with the arrival of a provincial politician (Tony Ranasinghe) as chief guest at a function at an impoverished village school. Half-built buildings amply demonstrate the poverty of the community and the under-privileged small school.
The politician brilliantly portrayed by Tony Ranasinghe, is a village rake who is devilishly cunning and he befriended Chaturika posing as a fatherly figure. He invites Chaturika, a bright student at the school, to browse his library. However, the village lad who seems to be Chaturika's boyfriend warns her not to associate with the politico. Before long the politico sends a parcel containing an expensive frock to Chaturika who refuses to accept it, and when she visits Walauva to return the gift, she was caught up in a pouring rain. By the time she reaches the Walauva, the politico was alone and she becomes an easy victim to the rapist, despite her pleadings. After the incident she falls ill and as the common practice in villages, a thovilaya, a ritual, is performed by her parents believing that the cause of the sudden illness was a devil's possession. Recovering from the initial shock, Chaturika, first visits the Walauva with her belongings, but was refused by the politico to accept her and marry her as she requested. She decides to stay in the Walauva. A bodyguard tries to seduce her and she killed him and fled the village. In the dead of the night, she meets a tautof a brothel run by a Madam. He introduces her to the Madam. However, after an incident at the ill-famed house, she runs into the busy street and sits in a restaurant aimlessly where she meets a Tamil couple who provide her with food and lodging, and adopt her as a sister. It is obvious that the Tamil couple, an elderly gentleman and the girl who poses as his daughter engage in subversive activities and help to smuggle explosives. Meanwhile, Chaturika (Sanoja Bibile) meets the politico at a party and introduces herself as Savithri. Chaturika devices a plan to take retribution from the politico. While visiting the AIDS patients, she's befriended by a patient (Gamini Samarakoon) and takes him home and takes contaminated blood from an AIDS patient. She succeeded in coaxing the politico and injects the blood into the politico leaving a letter saying that she, Chaturika; the village girl had done the deed. His own bodyguard killed the politico while the politician tried to inject the blood into the bodyguard. On another plan, Ranjan Ramanayaka, who is eyeing Chaturika, abuses her after discovering that she had fled from the brothel house. Chaturika's boy friend (Ranjan) tries to kill her but later abandoned it and decides to visit Chaturika's home with her. The film ends with Chaturika's visit home with her boy friend. Music for the film was by Nelson Dharmasene. Nanda Malini and Gunadasa Kapuge sings background songs that are well matched with scenes unfolding in the film. The emotion-studded voice of the mastersinger Nanda Malini adds an important auditory element to the film. Photography for the film is by Bandula Cooray and Art Direction by Srinatha Wickremesinghe. Githani Amarasena, Gothami Pathiraja, Dayananda Jayawardene have contributed their share to the plot to make it realistic in the eyes of the viewers. Chaturika's character (Sanoja Bibile), which is the main character of the film, is brought to fruition by other characters such as the politician (Tony Ranasinghe) and her boyfriend (Ranjan Ramanayaka). Characters of Chaturika's mother and father are also played brilliantly by Wimal Kumara de Kosta and Muyri Samarasinghe. The Tamil couple serve to fill an important gap in the plot. It is obvious that viewers could witness an unforgettable role, Chaturika, played radiantly by young actress Sonali Bibile. She has done justice to the character. Alu Yata Gini will be a novel cinematic experience for Sri Lankan filmgoers and a film, which has all the elements of life in it. Rahju's paintings: The commonplace and the transcendental, the sublime and the ordinary... by Ellen Dissanayake Stairway Gallery, Hotel Thilanka, Kandy Nearly half the canvases in Rahju's current exhibition of paintings at the Thilanka Hotel in Kandy are poetic landscapes (including two seascapes), while another three paintings have to do with cadjan, that commonest of materials, strips of coconut palm leaf woven into panels used for roofs or fences. Such apparently incompatible subjects-the sublime and the ordinary-have characterized Rahju's sensibility from his first Sri Lankan exhibition, which I reviewed more than twenty years ago. At the time, just returned from art study in Norway, he was a "surrealist", creating mystery through unfamiliar juxtapositions of meticulously crafted scenes and objects. Later, he became what might be called a "hyper-realist," focusing carefully, as in the present exhibition, on the details of local flora and landscape. Most recently, the work became abstractly expressive, based on visual renderings of musical themes. [should we say "renderings of musical themes from ragas"?] In Rahju's work, whether old or new, the commonplace and the transcendent are never far apart and indeed are often joined. The magical or poetic quality that embues the seven mountain-and-seascapes in this exhibition is not something that the painter has added for atmospheric effect. That these works embody a meditative mood should be no surprise to those familiar with Lankan skies and seas, hills and mists, light and shadow, dawn and twilight. Rahju's depictions of full moon nights and seasonal changes of weather and light on water, cloud, and waves are familiar to those of us who know Kandy. They are recollections of Lanka's incomparable natural beauties, faithfully rendered with Rahju's hallmarks-an uncommon technical skill and a sensitivity to the singularities of the natural world. Adding depictions of sacred sites or Hindu and Buddhist figures and emblems to beautiful, evocative landscapes is similarly not "for effect" in the sense of local colour but rather these convey the presence of the eternal in the transitory. . . . . In this exhibition, it appears that, after two decades, surrealism is creeping back into Rahju's work. At least the moving yellow curtain to the left of "Mountain Dancers", the full moon caught in the lines of the Trisula, the floating araliya flower in the Buddha's palm, and the dark interior of "Cadjan Door" are, for me, uncanny or unexpected elements that lead the viewer beyond the serenity and orderliness of the depicted subjects of the titles, and provoke the viewer to his or her own private thoughts and sensations. Both, those of us who have long admired Rahju's art, and newcomers to the work will find much aesthetic reward in these latest paintings. Nilani de Silva to launch Monsoon Dream
Monsoon Dream is the story of Anushka, a teenage girl in Sri Lanka who after being disowned by her family and encouraged to kill herself by her own father, leaves her native country in search of a new home and a new way of life in England. The novel displays the strict code of conduct governing each member of a household that demarcates the deep gap separating the Westernised elitist bourgeoisie and the ethnic Sinhalese traditions taking their cue from the colonials who have ruled their country for centuries. Nilani De Silva who was born and spent her childhood in Sri Lanka, saw the reality of the life through her immediate surroundings and thus opted to write a novel that offers true insight and a clear-eyed view into a world unimaginable for most. In a review in the New York Times, best seller author Ellen Tanner Marsh said: "Through various and quite gripping flashbacks we learn the story of her past, a tale that is at times part ethnography, part mythology and part sheer poetry." "Exact in her depictions, elegiac through simple language, she tells a bold story with the subtle directness of Hemingway, and the feminine force of Maya Angelou," she said. "Readers will discover a world view of immense sadness and soaring hope and glimpse the unthinkable, tempered with the inevitable triumph of an unbowed spirit," she added. Monsoon Dream is about life itself in all its glorious uncertainty - melancholy, disillusion, bitter on the one hand, joyous affirmative and radiant with hope, on the other. Nilani de Silva calls her book a story that very few would dare to share as it is based on a true story. Nilani de Silva presently lives with her husband and three children in Stockholm. She obtained her Masters Degree in Mass Communication, in England. At the moment she has taken a break from her PhD studies to make room to pursue a burning passion in life-writing. Monsoon Dream is her first attempt. The book which is sold in the United States at USD18.50 will be available
here at a special price of Rs. 599. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
When it comes to names in the world of art, no doubt Pablo Picasso tops
the list (Pablo Diego Jose Francisco de Paula Joan Nepomusceno Crispin
Crispiniano de la Santisima Trinidad). But Gunadasa Malaviarachchi, surely
comes up a close second. And, as with Pablo Picasso his name too has been
shortened, for whereas Malaviarachchi may not ring a bell, Malavi is sure to
do so. 
The National Photographic Art Society of Sri Lanka (NPAS) which is
affiliated to the Federation of International Art Photography (FIAP) will
hold its 13th international exhibition of photography in commemoration with
the 55th anniversary at the Art Gallery of Colombo from December 16-19. The
Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka will grace the
occasion as chief quest at the opening ceremony on December 16 at 4.30 pm.
Chaturika (Sanoja Bibile), a village beauty is the band- leader. While
hoisting the national flag, the politico noted and acknowledged his
bodyguard of the girl, and later the girl's father who is a farmer, was
summoned to the Walauva, the politico's residence; Walauva is a potent
symbol of feudalism and exploitation. 
Monsoon Dream by Nilani de Silva, which was first published in USA in
September by the Publishing Division of Amazon.com, will be launched in Sri
Lanka in association with Vijitha Yapa Publications on December 22, 2005 at
the Galle Face Hotel. 
