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Ven. Piyananda's Alokana

by Bharatha Malawaraarachchi

Well-known Bhikku artist Ven. Katuwana Piyananda Thera will reach a milestone in his artistic career next week when he stages his 15th exhibition of paintings at the Lionel Wendt, Colombo from February 24 to 27.

This exhibition titled "Alokana" comes two years after his last exhibition in Colombo which proved to be a great success.

"This exhibition will be a milestone in my art life which spans over two decades," says the soft spoken Bhikku who has turned out to be a controversial figure in the local art scene.

Buddhist monks engaged in paintings and sculpture are rare. But, Ven. Piyananda Thera remarked that even during Buddha's time there had been Buddhist monks doing paintings and sculpture.

Ven. Piyananda Thera considers painting a "form of meditation". The latest exhibition will comprise 25 oil paintings based mostly on his experiences during the past two years as a Buddhist monk, he added. Most paintings in the exhibition will focus attention on the destruction caused by the war. "Even though all of us may not have directly suffered the consequences of the war, everyone of us has our own experiences regarding the brutality of the war. I wanted to portray this pathetic side".

By using various shades of main colours, the Thera has made his mark as a modern artist who contributes to the development of local art. "I want to use my brush freely, searching for new avenues. We should adjust ourselves to changes and seek new ideas. I have attempted to make this change using various colours and shapes."

Born in Katuwana, a remote village about 15 miles off Tangalle in the Southern province, he has come a long way as an artist. He developed a liking for art around the age of six.

Most of his themes were drawn from Buddhist scriptures. Over the years, his paintings have taken a new turn, searching for his own identity. His brush strokes depict aspects of ascetic life, domestic scenes, freedom, war and a host of other themes. This may be the reason why in a note to his 10th exhibition, Ven. Piyananda Thera says: "It is nothing but my compelling psychological urge and need as a human being, artist, monk and a social being to see through my own psyche and environment that has compelled me to present this exhibition".

The Thera has received a greater international exposure through several successful exhibitions held in Asia and Europe. He has held exhibitions in Singapore and Malaysia. His visit to London on an invitation extended by Ven. Galayaye Piyadassi Thera was a remarkable success. The Thera held exhibitions at the Kingsbury Town Hall in London, University of Geneva and the Picasso Centre in Paris.

Apart from that, he got an opportunity to travel in Europe for over one year studying the work of celebrated artists in the region.

"Even through my paintings, I have made an attempt to propagate Buddhism and it has been an enormous success".

Greatly influenced by paintings found at temples and the knowledge gathered during the European visit, the Thera has developed a unique style to give vent to his feelings through paintings over the years.

The Thera was confident about the future of art in Sri Lanka.

"People are more interested in this medium than in the past. A new breed of artists and art lovers have emerged in recent years. There is a revival in this medium here". He lamented about the lack of facilities for holding exhibitions outside Colombo. "There are no suitable galleries in the outstations and this has greatly discouraged artists. The Government should intervene to change this situation and more state patronage be extended to artists," he said.

Ven. Piyananda Thera also deplored the present education system. "This system should be changed to give a more prominent place for art fields with a view to improving the creativity of children as art helps to build a complete and cultured man." Apart from paintings, the Thera has excelled in other fields too. "I have already directed two tele-films and now, I am making arrangements to commence work on my maiden film based on a historic topic."

The exhibition is open from 9.30 am to 8.00 pm.

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Harvest of bitterness

by E. M. G. Edirisinghe

Tikiri Ratnayake, with 'Pura Sakmana' (Bitter Harvest) his maiden movie moves on to the Dry Zone as many of our young film makers do, for cinematic creative inspiration. In the wet zone where natural richness for life and people to flourish is found in abundance, there is plenty of leisure to seek pleasure and power. In contrast, the dry zone in which the nature is in constant challenge, man has to survive under persisting resistance offered by the harsh environment. It summons courage and sacrifice to dispel despair and disaster to overcome the slide to self-destruction. So the bitter side of life in the dry zone runs deeper and much beyond the better side of life that prevails in the wet zone.

It is the economic hardships and cultural degeneration that prevails in the dry zone, foremost of our filmmakers had been the fertile ground to examine, plough and portray the inherent social contradictions. Harsh reality experienced in the dry zone reflects effectively and forcefully on its decadent economic, social and spiritual life. The film maker captures this making in its proper perspective with uncompromising objectivity. A compact, neatly cut and assiduously directed with the camera capturing the compositions in thick images both in close-ups and medium close-ups made to communicate with the viewer. 'Pura Sakmana' is a fascinating film that easily sustains the spectator interest up to the very end of the movie. Disciplined realistic and powerful thespian performance of the artists display understanding and depth in breathing life to the tale of a woman whose husband was cast in jail, falling a victim to sexual advances of a man, eventually finds her only daughter raped which in turn led to her own death. Cinematically and emphatically presented in neat narrative idiom, it leaves not a moment of boredom or distraction. Sparsely populated and densely forested, the village was an ideal backdrop to induce excesses to man's inherent primitive instincts of sex and crime which bring their own destruction. Pura Sakmana while it brings out the lecherous advances of Wilmon (Cletus Mendis), delineates the love and devotion of a mother to her only daughter. When the mother for reasons of companionship, sustenance, love or security, whatever it is, leads an immoral life, she cannot prevent her daughter falling prey into evil eyes. However, what the film maker intones in undertones is a vision that travels deeper into the very fabric of rustic life. Man when alienated from the cultural roots and spiritual hold which brings discipline and strength to character, is easy prey for devil's influence.

The film suggests through Yasa (Kanchana Mendis) that prostitution or any other sinful activity is not the only way to make a living. Failing to find spiritual solace, they were acting on impulses and instincts somewhat primeval in character. The film maker throws light deep into the village to find that there is no sane person except Somay (Janaka Kumbukage) who did not embroil himself in the viles reigning in the society around. Most of them lived a life alienated from the soil as well as the environment, the main cause for their ruination.

Somay an omni-present character in the village is innocent, patient, simplistic, loving, caring, natural but somewhat childlike. So all the goodness in one's character but missing in the village is collectively lodged in Somay. But, in the end he had to die for the one on whom he heaped sentiments of love and devotion with no visible reception. It is as if all the goodness in man fleeing from the village had domiciled in Somay who is only a poor uneducated shepherd. His disappearance drove the village into a moral and social crisis resulting in the evaporation of goodness in the village and the villager. Pictorially, the lush verdant vegetation and the jungle in plentiful presence speaks of a prosperous fertile soil and a healthy environment. Inspired by natural richness and beauty, the people instead of making life comfortable were reaping bitterness, greed and hardships by themselves being removed from the nature with which they are destined to live.

Andiris (Hemasiri Liyanage) is reflectively both central and peripheral to what has come of the peasantry in the village. He symbolised the life villagers lived and what they made of the life they led while Somay was symbolic of what the life of peasantry organically and intrinsically is. Andiris who, instead of taking the hard way to till the land, took the easy way to live and was landed in jail. On release from prison, he was back at the sale of illicit liquor. He was dismayed and deranged by the disappearance of Somay who was so dear to them. Determined to save his daughter from being charged for murder, Andiris himself dealt the blows on Wilmon killing him leaving the daughter and her son to their own destiny.

Though the film ends with Andiris back in jail, Yasa's woes and worries will not be over. Left alone with her infant child she will confront bigger calamities with all her loved ones gone.

'Pura Sakmana', a spectator-friendly film with an absorbing tale of anxiety and excitement, is an impressive presentation of a fine cinematic texture to woo the filmgoer. However, it lacked authenticity when the movie failed to capture pictorially the drought that is supposed to have affected the life of the people. On the contrary, a tank full of water and the green vegetation has betrayed the feeling of a drought in the area which is said to have made the villagers to commit themselves to odd jobs other than cultivation of the land. Similarly, it failed to capture the effect of devastation caused by wild elephant to Gunawathie's (Anoja Weerasinghe) vegetable garden.

A remarkable and well plotted theme depicting the plight of the peasantry in the dry zone who were dislodged from the roots of culture and religion, is doomed and ruined driven from mess to mess and distress to distress. Photography is excellent in capturing the hidden depth and concealed grief, in the light of surrender to immoral life forced on by the social environment. A film with superb appeal, it could be taken in one gasp and grip. Anoja Weerasinghe and Kanchana Mendis give a fine performance in their respective roles. It is a relief for the picturegoers to be relieved of dry comedies and barren sexies to which they are constantly treated to in the theatres dotting the
island. 

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'Trading Places'

by Prasad Abu Bakr

'Artist Robert Sedgley who is currently showing his work at the Barefoot Gallery is doing so for the 4th time in Sri Lanka. His fascination in capturing shops, stores and commercial outlets to be interpreted in the medium of water colour is not strange, as the artist is British and whatever he saw on our streets might have inspired him to do so.

'To Sri Lankan viewers Sedgley's work will add a dose of nostalgia, as each picture represents a place that we are familiar with that we have been going past many a time or even visited to buy something for ourselves. But strangely one might recall that the place was not worth a second glance, unlike for the artist. Sedgley sees and notices something special in most buildings that surround our day to day lives, his observations re-live on paper through his expressions done in water-colour executed in brilliant colours and strong lines.

'Sedgley is an Englishman who has made Spain his home. His attitude towards our colonial past is most complimentary which in return fascinates us, his viewers. We see a little bit of Sedgley not only in his work but also in the topics he chooses to paint. His attention to detail is laudable - it is difficult to just walk past his work without paying attention to all the little details Sedgley has so dedicatedly worked up on. "On first encountering my paintings may look like straight forward illustrations of subjects. But I hope that people will look further and be able to see what initially interested me," says the artist. He wants the viewer to observe the combinations of shapes and colours detailed lives of architectural structures, details like sign boards, posters by the wayside walls, Three Wheelers parked beside the pavements, passers by - other details and more details. Locally more and more people are showing interest in art. Painters are coming forward with their work and the opportunities for them to do so are bigger than a few years ago as private galleries have opened up and are promoting artistes and their work to a small group of buyers who are on the invitees list of most galleries. In recent times a lot of abstract art has surfaced some good amongst a few mediocre ones.

'Looking back at what we have viewed in recent times give Sedgley a slight edge over them as his work comes as a breath of fresh air and is sure to entrance any art lovers private collection.

' 'Trading Places' is now open to the public at the Barefoot Gallery, 704, Galle Road, Colombo 3, daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The exhibition ends on the 4th of March.

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