On the 11th and 12th of October, Lionel Wendt saw two artists, a generation apart, unveil their talent. WILD AND WONDERFUL was essentially a "Colombo 7 affair" as far as I was concerned. Still, the exhibition was one-of-a-kind. I interviewed both artists. Yes, in Colombo 7.
For some in Sri
Lanka, art always has been coterminous with exhibitions. While this isn’t
exactly very true a claim, what we have seen in recent years is a rapid
increase in the number of new, budding painters coming up and displaying their
talent for all to see. This doesn’t exclude veterans, of course.
Art, as we all
know by now, is not elitist. By its nature, it rebels against the aristocratic
tendency some conservative-reactionaries like to see it following. Neither is
it plebeian, and I don’t deny that. Exhibitions, nonetheless, remain the only
way to portray, display, and recognise talent.
Teruni Wickramanayake
and Anya Ratnayake are nearly a generation apart. Nonetheless, their love for
the medium they have decided to pursue as a hobby has brought them together in
an upcoming exhibition. “Wild and Wonderful” will unveil itself for every
art-lover in the metropolis (and beyond) next Saturday and Sunday at Lionel
Wendt.
The title is the
event’s signature: “Wild” representing Anya’s side to the exhibition (a
collection of stippling portraits of wildlife) and “Wonderful” (featuring
abstract paintings) that of Teruni. More so a fusion of two sides to the same
coin.
A survey of
Teruni’s room will confirm just how much painting has been impressed upon her.
“I’m a relative of Harry Pieris,” she tells me, referring to one of the members
of the celebrated ’43 Group of painters who heralded a radically new era for
art here. She had picked up a love for the medium at an early age, complemented
by her visits to several countries which boast of robust art cultures.
Admitting that she holds no dogmatic preference for any one style over another,
she makes it clear nevertheless that abstract art holds great interest for her.
“Wild and
Wonderful”, however, is not all about art. Anya comments on her side of the
story candidly, admitting that she’s a relative newcomer. Her paintings will
feature wildcats, animals which she thinks have been neglected by the painters
and photographers the world over. “It’s always leopards and tigers and lions we
depict,” she tells me by way of explaining this, “There are people who don’t
even know what an ocelot is. My primary aim in this exhibition is to raise
awareness about these animals.”
She credits her
parents with having encouraged an interest in painting at an early age;
admitting that she still has a long way to go, she nonetheless makes it clear
about the intense dedication and interest she has put into this effort. I don’t
think anyone can deny that.
Reviewing the present
state of painting in Sri Lanka, Teruni is not all too rosy. “We have enormous
reserves of talent here. Unfortunately, they’re being marginalised. I must say
that the situation has improved a little now, but the biggest problem, which is
the lack of proper art-galleries, remains.”
I put it to her
that the number of artists displaying their talent on pavements across Colombo
bears testament to this, and she agrees. “It’s mainly to do with cost and
affordability,” she says, “I remember how a group of students exhibiting their paintings
at an art-gallery had to do, uncomfortably, without air-conditioning, because
they just couldn’t afford that ‘necessary frill’.”
“Wild and
Wonderful” isn’t her first exhibition, by the way. She’s had two others before.
All that’s an entirely different story, of course, but those two exhibitions,
one in 1997 and the other in 2012, made her aware of the intrinsic talent and
value she possessed. “I was unsure whether I would be able to sell even one of
my paintings. In the end, I sold 13 out of 26!” Perhaps it was a case of too
much modesty, but she tells me how she used to give away her paintings for
free, underestimating her own talent. “That’s long gone, I know. Now I have realised
what I’m good at.”
It is fatally
easy to attribute labels to artists. At the end of the day though, these labels
alone will not vindicate those who leave their legacy imprinted on their works.
We have our icons, dead and alive, and what they create continue to move us
whenever we see them. “I don’t know why artists’ creations become expensive and
reflect their true worth after they die,” Teruni says, and Anya agrees with her
openly.
Ivan Peries
(another painter from the ’43 Group) is of course a classic example for this
curious fact (“no-one can get close to his paintings,” someone once wittily
told me, referring to their price), but perhaps it is reflective of the
“valueless while alive, valuable while dead” mentality our society has brought
itself to accept unconditionally.
In any case,
both Teruni and Anya testify to how much talent the metropolis in Sri Lanka
boasts of. At the end of the day, painting is an inborn talent (both Teruni and
Anya wholeheartedly subscribe to this view), and while it may not be a familial
trait, it is true that painters cannot be made but are born.
“Wild and
Wonderful” will blend in the best of both worlds, no doubt. In any case, next
Saturday and Sunday (the 11th and 12th) will be their
baptism of fire. Lionel Wendt, after all, has been a vigil of sorts for both
established and budding artists. One can only wish Teruni and Anya the very
best in their endeavour. No small fusion, what the two of them have achieved.
Written for: Ceylon Today LATITUDE, October 5 2014
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