When two become one

A unique style of 'painting on painting' that transforms passion to phenomenon :

by Isuri Kaviratne

Two painters. Two genres. One canvas. Mahesh and Dileepa, after entertaining the idea of working on similar storylines, decided on merging their paintings, and thus created the 14 paintings that were exhibited at the Lionel Wendt from 12-14 February.

Titled 'Together', Mahesh's abstracts and Dileepa's portraits together create this phenomenon 'painting on painting' that is new to Sri Lanka and little heard of in the world.

Mahesh Indika, a graduate of the University of Visual and Performing Arts, has maintained the theme of an animal, to capture the effect of the rich and poor. Dileepa Jeewantha, who has held three solo exhibitions, paints versions of himself in his attempts to find himself in the form of art, has tried to capture the third precept of Buddhism, 'I will abstain from going wrong about sensuous pleasures'.

Mahesh and Dileepa said they each painted seven paintings, and exchanged their completed paintings with each other, for the other person to paint over the existing painting. There has to be tremendous trust in each other's work when you hand over your finished painting to another to paint on, they agreed.

The second painter's challenge and responsibility is determining which sections of the original to paint over and they both say they reached the anxious point of proceeding with the second layer of painting, erasing chunks of the original, and calling the other to assure themselves before proceeding. They eventually mastered the art of painting on top of a painting, while keeping the original story intact.

All the paintings are double titled and signed by both the painters. In case their partnership fails, they have decided to paint on a white canvas and leave space for the partner's painting and these paintings will still be called 'Painting on Painting' but the titles will carry the message that the painter's partner is lost to him.

Dileepa and Mahesh are in the process of developing a standard technique of the art of 'painting on painting' as they call their first exhibition an experiment. With the lessons learnt from this year, they plan to hold another exhibition next year with the intention of making it an annual event.