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Dep Thushara's imagination

In his search for self expression an artist finds himself embarking on a journey of sensuous visions, probably imaginary?

by Prasad Abu Bakr

Dep Thuhara admits that his present collection came about in his attempt to combat loneliness, a feeling he has been saddled with since he arrived in the city about six months ago to take up job as a product designer for a leading company in Colombo.

Artist Dep Thushara

The work indicates many moods (imaginary or otherwise) that any young male will brood over, expressed using an excellent combination of colour combined with a strong sense of drawing. Artist Thushara has continuously maintained a flowing line throughout his collection, indicating the artist's total involvement in the subject he chooses to paint. His great disappointment in being rejected entry to the Institute of Aesthetic Studies at the University of Kelaniya, has further heightened his frustrations.

He claims that he missed that opportunity by one point stating that he should have been at least considered, taking into account his talent and ability. Not been able to enter the institute does not reflect at present as his work shows an immense sense of maturity and promise. His present work has streamlined presence in colour and subject matter.

Reflecting upon multiple nude drawings that sometimes appear to look as improvisations on the same figure.

Worked in hues of earth colours with occasional burst of Steel Blue or Flame Orange, Thushara has reflected upon multiple drawings appearing sometimes to look like improvisations of the same figure, but in some paintings the sensuality heightens owing to the images appearing to be in very compromising positions.

Born in Tangalle, a coastal fishing town deep down South, Thushara is the eldest in a family of five children. His ability to draw has been a childhood talent and gained a lot of support from his art teacher in school Don A. Weerasinghe at Thangalla Maha Vidyalaya. Later as a teenager he attended the Centre of Fine Arts in Tangalle for over six years. Later in addition to that he was able to complete a 3 year Diploma course at the National Design Centre, which includes Interior, Graphic and Product designing. Thushara also followed a 1 year course at the Vibhavi Academy of Fine Arts, where he was introduced to many contemporary masters such as Jagath Weerasinghe, Chandraguptha Thenuwara and Sujith Ratnayake. Their influence too has enabled him to go deeper and explore in the area of modern art.

Artist Thushara wants to continue working as an artist even though he admits that it is not the best route to financial stability. But he states sensibly that though painting will play a major part in his life, he will always work in a related field to earn his living. He had a faraway look in his eyes when he spoke about his future, may be he wanted to paint more often, perhaps fulltime but Sri Lanka's living standards do not afford this opportunity even to the most talented young people and specially artistes. It is wise of Thushara to think the way he do even though it is now proven that his present exhibition is a success both artistically and monetarily. It is encouraging to know that artists such as Thushara living with minimum of resources do not want to quit in a hurry and steer towards better income- generating work.

Instead they want to live and die as artists.

Thushara's work is presently shown at Paradise Road Galleries Colombo until the 22nd of this month.

50th anniversary of the Lionel Wendt Theatre

The Lionel Wendt Art Centre is dedicated, as intended, to the performing arts, to drama, ballet and music and to painting, sculpture and photography. It came about through the bequests of two brothers, Lionel and Harry Wendt, who both died young within a year of each other, in 1944 and 1945 respectively.

Lionel Wendt

Lionel Wendt was a barrister whose principal interests lay not in Law but in music and photography. He was a virtuoso pianist whose performances were highly regarded, and he was a dedicated teacher. As a photographer he earned the early plaudits of people in the profession; he was accorded the rare distinction of a one-man exhibition hosted by the makers of the famous Leica cameras in London in 1938. In 1943 the '43 Group, a fellowship of distinguished Sri Lankan artists, was formed under his patronage.

Upon his death, his brother Harry and their friend, Harold Peiris, decided to commemorate Lionel Wendt in an Arts Complex. However with Harry Wendt's early death the task of implementing it was left to Harold Peiris. He was to devote his whole life to this project, lavishing vast sums of his own money to see it completed. The Lionel Wendt Theatre opened in December 1953 with the production of Maxim Gorky's "Lower Depths" with a cast of some of Colombo's most accomplished amateur actors directed by Neumann Jubal.

Professor Ediriweera Sarachchandra's "Maname" was produced at the Lionel Wendt Theatre in 1956 breaking new ground. With Chitrasena's "Karadiya" which had its first performances here in 1961, the Wendt became the most widely-used venue for performance of plays in both Sinhala and English with the occasional production of a play in Tamil. It has also been the place for the performance of musical concerts, Bharatha Natyam, Arangetrams and recitals of classical music both Western and Indian.

The Gallery has hosted innumerable exhibitions of the work of Sri Lankan artists, and the studios of the Photographic Society of Sri Lanka serve a wide variety of people, amateur and professional. Indeed the Centre has fulfilled every aspect of its dedication as a place for the practice and performance of all the Arts.

- Neville Weeraratna

A unique collection of short stories : Writers of Lakeview

An interesting literary event took place at the Auditorium of the Dharmaraja College, Kandy last week on 3rd July.

The event was the presentation of a collection of short stories written by some of the distinguished writers produced by Dharmaraja during past 75 years. Among them were Dharmasena Pathiraja, David Karunaratne, Chandraratne Bandara, Sudath Mahadivulwewa, Deltota Chandrapala, Kapila Kumara Kalinga, D. W. Senadheera, Kapila M. Gamage, Chatura Jayatillake and Channa Dolapihilla. There were 14 writers in all, some of them now dead. Chandraratne Bandara had won the D. R. Wijewardane Award for his novel.

It was interesting to notice that some of these writers though they had started at Dharmaraja as short story writers had ventured into other fields of art where they distinguished themselves while some others had entered the Public Service, like Gamini Gunawardane and Sunil Sirisena.

This compendium is a unique collection in that it is a novel idea to present the work of writers from a single school in one selection. Spread out through several generations of writers, they represent divergent trends in the art of modern Sinhala short story writing.

The collection contains stories reflecting historical fiction, Chekhovian `Slice of Life', Maupasant's `Twist at the End', Edgar Allen Poe's suspense technique and the more modern Existentialist and Absurd Drama trends, all in one run. Thus it presents most interesting reading and deserves serious examination by literary critics interested in tracing the historical development of the Sinhala Short Story during the last century.

The stories themselves make very interesting reading. Coming from very different writers, though of the same school, belonging to several generations, this collection presents a divergent gamut of experience, surprisingly refreshing. There is however a consistently notable feature in all the stories.

That is the most competent use of the language and its strength in being grammatical throughout. This is something woefully lacking in present day writing. Here the modern writers have much to learn from this collection.

It is, at the same time, a tribute to the Sinhala teachers of Dharmaraja who had taught the basics of grammar to these young writers when they were in school.

It is also fascinating to see how the young apprentices had, gained confidence over time and grown up to become powerful creative writers of their own right. The daring of the younger writers to express themselves in the modern trends is indeed striking.

The launching of the book in fact, was a presentation to Dr. H. S. S. Nissanka, who was a former teacher of Dharmaraja. It was really, an expression of gratitude by the Old Boys, at the request of the writers themselves. It had been Dr. Nissanka who, as a teacher in the Nineteen Fifties to Seventies had inspired and instigated these writers. He had started an in-house annual short story competition in the Fifties. At least two of the contributors to the present compendium had been winners at this competition. Dr. Nissanka in his speech became nostalgic as he went down memory lane. He recalled some interesting incidents concerning the writers in their school days and recounted how he had nurtured some of them, having recognised their innate talents.

He revealed that the concept of Wall Papers now very common in schools, was an idea that he had started at Dharmaraja. He had introduced first Wall Paper in the college hostel and the boys had named it 'Eliya'. It exists to-date. He said that Education Department copied it from Dharmaraja and spread it among all other schools. The presentation to Dr. Nissanka was made at this meeting by the editor of the book, Kapila Kumara Kalinga, in the presence of the students, principal and the staff and the old boys. This presentation was held at the school in order to inspire the present boys and the teachers.

Prof. Somaratne Balasooriya of the Kelaniya University delivered the keynote address. His subject was "the literary contribution of the writers of Dharmaraja." He dealt with the contributions of poet Wimalaratne Kumaragama, David Karunaratne, Chandraratne Bandara and many others. He pointed out that the dominant feature of all three writers was the fact that, while they stood firmly on tradition, were fiercely independent in innovation and creativity. They did not hesitate to dispense with tradition wherever it became obsolete. This in fact, is the Dharmaraja tradition itself. It is noticeable in the other areas too.

This publication was initiated by the Madhya Sansadaya of the Old Rajans, in collaboration with the Colombo branch of the Old Boys' Union.

The presentation was organised by Dharmaraja Kala Padanama of the present boys. The book is titled 'Wev Dasune Lakhakayo'. It means, the writers of Lakeview.

Lakeview is the name of the picturesque land of Dharmaraja Hill overlooking the Kandy Lake on one side and the Dumbara Velley on the other. It is the premises that enchanted many visitors who were great men of aesthetic bent such as Rabindranath Tagore, D. H. Lawrence, and Indian painter Nandalal Bose.

This book is available for sale at the Dharmaraja Old Boys' Headquarters on Dharmapala Mawatha, Kandy and at the Colombo branch office at 276/9, Kotte Road, Mirihana. (Tel. 815704-6).

Reflections in colour

In a series of oil painting exhibitions conducted, Jayani Pinnawala, a Senior Administrative Officer attempts to portray the many facets of nature.

A variety of subjects have been chosen to show her interest and concern for nature and most of all the things, that are pleasing to ones eye. Her desire to expose to the naked eye the calm and serenity of the world of nature which could be experienced in admiring the paintings on subjects as 'natures delight', 'relaxed', 'rippling water', 'sunset of age' are some of the ones which stand out as selections. Quite and effort has been put in to bring out the beauty of flowers we all admire almost daily in our lives.

The closeness to nature is yet shown when one admires the paintings done of birds, animals too. The positive aspects, which the universe projects makes us quite proactive in life. Jayani Pinnawala makes an effort to put on canvas this aspect, which should be admired by art lovers.

Jayani Pinnawala nurtured this talent when she was serving in the Diplomatic Service as Deputy Ambassador in Italy. No doubt the Great cultural and historical background did provide her an ideal environment to study this art of painting under a well-known teacher of Art. Coupled with the motivation from the Italian's that appreciate and enjoy and patronise painting exhibitions Jayani embarked on this effort to put onto the canvas her talent. Her desire to take this interest further was achieved when she also organised painting exhibitions in Italy.

The one conducted in Isle of Capri was quite a success.

A feature in the paintings that we see in her exhibitions is that she has made a successful attempt to blend rich western culture with eastern backgrounds. This is mainly the result of experiences gained from her travels to various countries.

Jayani Pinnawala firmly believes that people are born with inherent talents. What one needs is to develop these talents, which she was able to achieve while overseas, and also in several travels to many parts of the world.

She is one who considers that managing time to develop ones interest or talents in such endeavours at paintings, drawing etc. is not difficult. Being a mother and busy in assisting in household work while spending quite a lot of time in office sometimes even on week ends does not hinder her interest in finding time to paint or relax with her family in so many ways. Perhaps the experiences gained from school university in sharing sometime for participation in dramas music and even attending sports events has groomed her life to adjust to spend sometime to attending to paintings. As a senior public servant Jayani at present functioning in the Prime Minister's office she continues to express her talents in paintings, which one should admire in many ways.

This exhibition of paintings will be on from 25th to 27th July at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery. Secretary to Hon. Prime Minister, Bradman Weerakoon along with several distinguished guests are scheduled to be present at the opening at 1100 a.m. on 25th July.

The exhibition will continue thereafter up to 7.30 p.m. and from 9.30 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. on 26th and 27th onwards.

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