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| Wednesday, 29 September 2004 |
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Seevali's artistic wealth of green vegetation by Gwen Herat
A journey through the lush vegetation of the Sri Lankan jungles is the first impression that artist Seevali Ilangasinghe creates in the mind of the viewer. From his palette, he strokes the mystery of vegetative wonders hidden perhaps at the undiscovered boundaries that separate land from forestry. His adoration for animals is clearly visible and his busty women, half clad, takes us back to the struck Sigiriya era. I was deeply struck by the 'Young Boy with Friend,' a very emotional tie-up between a youth and a deer, dispelling the fear that the dumb community have towards man. I wish he had put this message on a big canvas. A waning moon behind a nun titled 'Contemplation' tells a story that the Buddha has taught all of us, to shun worldly attachment and entertain chaste and sober mind. And side by side hangs another painting depicting the opposite of a very passionate woman, flamed up by desire in the arms of a man. These were some of the paintings that caught my eye at his exhibition at the Felix Gallery, Colombo. Seevali is an unusual painter because he primarily focuses on true Sinhala image of Sri Lanka and one feels that he has done a lap through the Sinharaja Forest.
Even his women are the raw rural type, buxom. One would expect them to be the svelte, languorous, long-limbed with slanting doe-eyes as found in our Sinhala literature. No, they are not and Seevali is very positive about what his women should look like. (Thank God, I am not like one of them). Perhaps Seevali's remote village in the North Central Province may have influenced. He is proud to be strictly Sri Lankan and I am proud to assess him as one. There is poetry and music in the strokes he use and they are free-hand. Most of the paintings struck me as with sexism and sensuality but as I looked deeper into them, the nakedness disappeared. His still-life too was very appropriate with the rest of his art. Sri Lanka is a nation of artists, whether performing or visual. The artistic qualities are found in breezing palms, flowing rivers, cascading water falls, the dusky maidens and the wild, wild life. Art is everywhere if you wish to have a look. But we tend to look at all of them on canvas when everything in nature is right around us. Sri Lankan artists never lack strong visual imagination and the more I see art on canvas the more convinced I am of our cultural abundance. Seevali among others fortify this.
There is a sudden flush of artists emerging in the immediate past decade and they are all marvellous and individualistic in their own way. I am a great admirer of Senaka Senanayake and there is yet another who has caught my imagination. Kumar Ratnayake is totally different to Seevali. While Kumar splashes about and experiment on bold colours, Seevali confines to nature's best with earth colours. He uses quite a mixture of browns and greens and helps to surface the wonders of nature. Seevali emulates only himself in subject matter of technique and brilliantly supplement conjuring excitement that are his signature and being Seevali Illangasinghe is his success. There is no substitute for him. **** Back **** |
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