Semage on peace:

A new theme with novel spirit

by Prof. Chandima Wijebandara

(BRS/BL Graduate School, Singapore)

Kalasoori Jayasiri Semage's solo exhibition of paintings entitled "Love and Peace' will be held at the Lionel Went Art Gallery, Colombo 7 from August 6-8

Jayasiri Semage is one of the few senior artists who have fame spread beyond the horizon. In addition to a large number of solo exhibitions in several countries, he has participated in many international exhibitions. His main focus is in the beauty, simplicity and joy of village life in Sri Lanka. Love, friendship and unity of villagers - the salient characteristics of their culture influenced by Buddhist thought have fascinated him from childhood.

Having well absorbed the spirit of village life, he has translated it to eloquent lines and shapes. He paints the joyful experiences of village families, their love life, their faith in Buddhism, their children, their economy and their hopes.

He possesses live memories of cowherds who play the flute to beautiful village damsels, boatman who does not care a coin, flower girl who shoots arrows of cupid and the young beauties with their wet clothes who either swim in the river or gossip while drawing water from the well. In addition to that he visualizes events like water sports depicted in Salalihini Sandesaya, the dance of the angels described in Guttilaya and many such picturesque descriptions found in classical literature of the Sinhalese. He shares his images with us not only on canvas hung on the wall but also through the pages of newspapers, his portal for many years in the past.

One unique characteristic of this apparently conservative artist is his ability to adopt and adapt to new challenges. His creative spirit does not allow him to stagnate but makes him choose current themes and tune up his own style to eloquent expressions of new 'dialects'. He has recently found inspiration in the works of Pablo Picasso, Lenardo Davinci, Michael Angelo etc. and incorporated the positive images into his own art. Yet, the remarkable point in this process is his ability to remain Jayasiri Semage. His identity is still noticeable and his affinity with Ajantha-Sigiri tradition remains unsacrificed. And he remains faithful to eastern values of culture.

At the current solo exhibition he has effectively translated his sensitivity to the present celebration of peace which seems to have been felt across the nations into a new batch of paintings. Peace, to him, is not only a mere friction-free living. "Peace has to be a life style emanating from genuine spiritual mind-set. If we do not have peace within, there is no point in talking about external peace. It has to be all over our thought, word and deed. I can recognise it when I look at a young girl fondling the fawn, young lovers in each other's hands, a mother feeding her child, a family enjoying parental love, and faithful people offering flowers and reciting gathas inside the shrine room", says Semage. "When I look at people feeding innocent animals and birds and show them compassion I can feel the spirit of peace diffusing the various aspects of living life. Peace is a unique spiritual experience that penetrates the depth of our souls", claims Semage.

Art, for him, is the most effective vehicle of moral values. Detrimental and demoralising messages should never defile the message of art. Art can make people aware of the value of life and the danger of hatred, ill-will and war. Equipped with this philosophy, Semage will present many facets of human relationships aiming at peaceful living and positive relationships at his forthcoming exhibition. As usual it will comprise delightful lines with soft and soothing colours exploiting the aesthetically pleasing beauty the nature has lavishly granted us to enjoy.

In spite of limiting his scope to traditional arts, Semage has experimented with new concepts and techniques. In 2007, he held an exhibition, at his own gallery at Mount Lavinia, of his bold endeavour of putting decent clothes on Picasso's nudes. He managed to compromise with the cultural values of Middle East in 2009 when he accepted the invitation to have a solo exhibition at Muscat in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. His main problem there was how to refrain from painting curvatures of beautiful busts of his rather sexy beauties which had been a unique attraction in his female figures. So he adopted a subtle transparent technique of covering the tops of his beauties still leaving allowance for suggesting aesthetic appreciation of the curves of their well shaped bosoms. And, he claims, it worked perfectly alright with the taste of Oman.

Recently, Semage has undertaken the historic task of painting the walls of Sri Lanka Vihara at Lumbini, Nepal, which was built according to a concept of the President of Sri Lanka. Being selected by the Organising Committee after a careful search process at national level, Semage has already completed the first step of the task by painting events from the birth of the Prince Siddhartha to his Enlightenment as the Buddha Gotama and has returned home to organise his solo exhibition. As a matter of fact he has the experience of painting abroad having painted the prestigious Shrine halls of Mangala Vihara of Singapore and the Buddhist Vihara of Penang, Malaysia.

In appreciation of such high achievements the Lanka Kala Sangamaya has conferred him the title of "Kala Acharya". And the Sarvodaya Movement and the Solias Mendis Foundation followed presenting him the prestigious National Honours titles.