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| Wednesday, 21 January 2004 |
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A creative world that is uniquely hers Carl Muller pre-views an exhibition of the paintings of Daisy Campbell that opened at the Alliance Francaise Gallery, Kandy on January 16. The exhibition will continue till January 26. People will tell you, and most decidedly, that the Bandaranaike family is best known for its production of politicians. I suppose, at a present-day count, this could be correct; but there is an aesthetic side that needs to be taken note of the world of art, of refinement of spirit, of rare creativity that is also very much evident. Take Sunethra and her strivings and ideals; wrapped, as it were, in ribbons of caring, sympathy nurturing and deep feeling. We are all aware of the wonderful work of the Sunera Foundation. And, in Kandy, another member of the family lives in a creative world that is uniquely her own.
Daisy Dias Abeysinghe, now Daisy Campbell, practically pulses with brush and canvas and the magical world she creates. She is wholly oblivious to the tribute that is her due; no true artist bothers about such. She is at her vibrant best in her sun-kissed "studio" that looks down at the gambol of the Mahaweli as it churns past pink-pastel rocks and outcrops of slate, filling her senses with line and form and the breathless compositions that guide her as she works. Daisy is her own person in every way. She shares with Colombo poetess, Trixie Marthenesz, a fascination for owls. Trixie once told me that her collection of hand-crafted owls from many parts of the world, give her inspiration. I wonder if they also ruffle the shining feathers of Daisy's imagination, for the owls in all their patterned beauty, to dominate her home. With them, she conducts her own love affair and they surely move her to envision what she must put face and form to. It must have been quite an honour to be invited to display her art at the Alliance Francaise, Kandy - the very first such exposition there in this brand-new year. "It can be no better beginning for 2004," she was told and she simply could not demur. Yet, as I well know, her art rises from her own personal pleasure with no thought of fame, plaudits or encomiums. "I paint because of the deep inner satisfaction it gives me," she says. The true artist talking! Cubism Taking in her paintings is to lose oneself in a huge canvas that combines the elements of cubism, pictography, the influences of Iberian and old Mediterranean, the sweep of modernism, much that is impressionistic, even a glimpse of the surrealistic; and each carrying a message that begs to be defined. As we find in the compound values of ancient Mohengo-daro, she can be "uril" - in the country, or "ilil" - in the house, and there is this inner and outer artistic experience that seems as though it has been given a compelling lustre at a lapidarist's wheel. With each offering one sees an extraordinary philosophical idea - the "internal word" so to say, that is the hallmark of creativity. To translate this is to identify behind it all, the manasa asanaya - the "fruit of the mind" that is an attribute of the old Sumeran god An. It is the easy and flowing perfection of line that simply cries out for admiration - a slow-descending stairway makes one wonder what lies above; the descent into a garden where clay pots stand, guard-of-honour, brings modernism and rusticity together in a warm, urban embrace; the oval intake of light details an interior that makes the painting on the far wall glow. Waves raise caligraphs as they prepare to break on a waiting shore, rising out of a solemnity of deeper blue space to spatter crystals of happiness on a solemn strand. More informal is the chill-blue lagoon, dribbling its message among the rocks and a leafless sapling that has stubbornly anchored itself, waving to the water to do its worst. What makes it all stand out is the intentness and colour-spectrum of each composition. The spreads of blue and ruby are not given precedence, but punctuated by the lines of paler, more effective counterpoint that makes for perfect balance. To Daisy, texture is vital and the brush made to work as scalpel and high-liner, pad and gossamer web. There is a deft pointillistic touch outdoors, bold sweeps of colour within and they complement each other ably. Dream Daisy did exhibit at the Alliance, Kandy much earlier and that, too, was stirring in scope. This new collection positively boggles. Each painting is like the recapture of a dream that impinges on waking. It is only the true artist who can see this world, mundane as it is today, as a wellspring of line and form as it was intended to be - from the patterned core of a tree to the elegant dwellings of those who raise with brick, stucco, chrome, steel, rock and mortar their own habitats. The exhibition opens on the 16th of January, goes on for ten days. A new year, a new presentation, in the new locale of the Alliance Francaise on Peradeniya Road. Also, a new celebration of art. Oh yes; politics may be the stamp of the Bandaranaike family, but with it runs creativity. It seems that within the political body rise the ganglions of art. What a tremendous combination! **** Back **** |
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