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by Bernard Hoffert , 
Professor, Fine Arts, Monash University, Melbourne.

An exhibition of recent paintings by Sybil Keyt and Neville Weereratne is now on at the The Barefoot Gallery, 704 Galle Road, Colombo 3, until October 6th. It is open daily from 10 am to 7 pm and form 10 am to 4 pm on Sundays.

Cultural memory is a powerful force. It is a chain of contact with history, the link with a personal past, a core of identity filtering the diversity and chaos of everyday experience to extract meaning, it is the determinant of what remains relevant in the all embracing panorama of our lives.

It may also be the spiritual anchor of our being, the central recognition that focuses the intellectual and emotional aspects of our personalities into our understanding of what is important in the world; the value structure from which our actions stem and against which our personal well-being is determined. At a subtle level the recollection of our cultural origins is the thumb print of our existence; its delicate traces map the pattern of our thought giving us structure in each new setting and evaluation in a context of changing events. It is our peace of mind and our contentment, the consciousness of who we are and what is important to us in a world of transition.

The fine thread of recollection flows behind us trailing in the breeze of our deeds and binding them to cultural sources. All what we do consciously and that which flows from the hidden well of our intuitions, reflects this link. In essence it is who we are, but more it is what flows from us when we reach into our souls, explore our being and show the world the ideas, feelings and imaginings that give us meaning; it is the personal dreaming of our individual past; what we can express of our cultural identity.

The paintings of Neville Weeraratne and Sibyl Keyt are rich in cultural memory. Three decades in another land have not dimmed the intensity of their reflections; their native Sri Lanka remains deep within, and as with any faith or feeling that shapes our destiny, it is in the most personal of our activities that its presence is not clear. Art making is from the heart, it transcends the everyday and lingers in the corridors of time; past and present dissolve in what is meaningful to the artist, where his heart abides, for this provides the substance of his expression, these artists are no different.

Both erase time and distance treading the pathways of memory as they shape their feelings into images. Their vision is both a bondage and a freedom for it is the chain that ties them to traditions and values that have long since ceased to be their world, but this distance allows them to use these ideals to create and evaluate, to monitor and reflect. It gives the freedom to discern what is important and liberates each artist's expressive needs.

The result is two individual groups of work, different in style and content but complementary in concept. It is life enhancing; it looks at paradise in a human world. Its values assert the beautiful, the decorative, the sensual; it holds pleasure for artist and viewer alike. It uses its freedom to choose the rich and meaningful qualities that enhance existence from what debases it. Its memory celebrates not demeans, choosing to offer fulfilment rather than criticism, to seek humanity and joy in a world that inevitably must contain that which is evil.

Weeraratne's work holds an exotic intensity. There is an emotional depth that concentrates in the rich tropical hues, the reds, golds and oranges that blaze upon a landscape of vivid greens, fertile, abundant, sensual, pregnant with luxuriant meaning where the pleasure and calm could momentarily transpose to passion and abandon; at one extreme his figures are linear and clear often static as if lost in their own joyous existence.

The brushing is accomplished and confident with a sense of painterliness that marks an understanding of the medium.

At the other extreme Weeraratne pushes his skills to simplify and reduce. Inspired by the patterned tiles and linear shapes of architectural forms he pushes his figures to expressive extremes, languid even erotic poses, captured in a rhythmic harmony of ordered space, flat, patterned and sensuous.

Kept expresses a more serene dimension in her reflections.

These are rural images, peaceful and calm, eternal in their composure and content; that ever present rule of nature echoes harmony in its form but also in its sentiments. The compassion of feeling, the tenderness of interaction, the love for family, spouse, children; these are the forces that endear these works.

The pleasure in the pattern, line and colour is overtaken by the gentle and the affectionate. The artist views her world in a way that highlights the caring and projects the sincere. What the work expresses in its feelings is at least as strong as that which it depicts. In the passion of Weeraratne's colours and the composure of Keyt's forms we find the heartfelt memories of a world beyond their everyday existence, but as vivid in their minds as if it as still part of their routine. And in their vision we find the aesthetic quality and personal pleasure that lets us see with their eyes.

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