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| Wednesday, 13 October 2004 |
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Beyond Life - child prodigy's claim to fame by Chandani Jayatilleke Beyond Life - the late child artist Sanjiv Mendis' works will be published in a book, compiled by his mother Charmaine Mendis. The book to be launched on October 22 provides a comprehensive record of his artistic life and insights.
As much as she loved and cared for her youngest son - Sanjiv, Charmaine admired all the drawings he did from a very tender age of two and a half years. The end result was a massive collection of paintings and drawings. At that time, Charmaine wouldn't have even thought that this collection would some day be published as 'the late artist Sanjiv's work'. But, it just happened that way. After his untimely death at the age of 19, Sanjiv's mother couldn't let his talent be confined to a collection of paintings alone, any longer. She had to summon courage to see that his work is published as a collector's book. Sanjiv was a child prodigy. He was a talented artist. Behind his artistic talent, Sanjiv was a sensitive, fragile human being who tried hard to hide his sensitivity from his peers. He started drawing at a very early age and what he drew at that time was quite impressive. "They were unusually creative and I was amazed at how his baby hands could control the pen to draw a complete circle, which needs much endurance," says Charmaine. Having realised Sanjiv's unusual talent for drawing, Charmaine kept a collection of all his baby drawings and when he was four, she took him to Lathifa Ismail, a prominent art teacher/consultant for her views. Ismail might have been impressed. "And she suggested that Sanjiv could join a class and attend whenever he wanted to, although he was under-age for her classes." Amazing boldness The first assignment she gave him was to draw the tray of eggs in her refrigerator. The 'Eggs' painting today hangs in Ismail's bedroom. Ismail introduced him to paints using powder colours. His early paintings show an amazing boldness of colour and space. He always gave titles for his pictures. All the titles for his paintings and drawings in the book had been given by him. There were periods in his paintings. For instance, he had a shark period, a whale period, a pink period and a blue period. Sanjiv was a lover of cars and aeroplanes. His elder brothers spent some time showing him how to draw his first cars and planes. And his earliest recognisable car was a box with four complete circles for wheels which he called 'Car'. From then on, there was never a moment when Sanjiv did not have paper and pen close at hand. Drawing and painting was a 24-hour activity for him. Whenever he travelled along with his parents, Sanjiv had to have paper and pen at all times. As he was growing up, there was always a sheaf of paper at the foot of Charmaine's bed, along with black ballpoint pens and a floor cushion for him to kneel on. His drawing board was her bed. Sanjiv attended Royal College and Asian International School in Colombo and entered university for higher education. During that time, he would return from school, come straight to Charmaine's room, pull out all drawing materials, kneel on the cushion and start drawing. He wouldn't care about his meals and drawing sessions would continue for hours. First exhibition At a very early age, Sanjiv was convinced that he was a talented artist. Charmaine who herself is an artist had no doubt about it. He sometimes completed 15 to 20 drawings at one sitting. He had a knack for painting on canvases. He always knew what colours to choose and angles to include. He never wavered. And nothing would change his mind. He had no interest in holding or visiting exhibitions. He was also not interested in competitions. It was his family which encouraged him to hold exhibitions and it was Charmaine who sent his paintings for various art competitions here and abroad. He won many prizes and certificates. He was only five when he had his first exhibition. Since then between 5 and 15, there were 10 exhibitions here and in Singapore, the Philippines, Belgium, the Netherlands and the US.During overseas exhibitions, Sanjiv's work was well received and highly acclaimed by art critics, a rare feat for a child. From Sanjiv's first exhibition, his work was commended by many renowned artists, film doyens, journalists and even political leaders. But it didn't matter to Sanjiv at all. He did not put on airs about it. Media-shy and extraordinarily sensitive, Sanjiv spent quite a normal life. Though he spent much time of his life drawing and painting, he never wanted to become an artist. He didn't think he was doing anything wonderful at all. "He wanted to join the Army - he also liked to become a pilot. His favourite subjects were cars and planes," says Charmaine.
He needed to draw naturally, like breathing. And once he got his ideas on to paper, he lost all interest in it. He would often crush and toss it into the bin, she says. Sanjiv was also a lover of nature. His paintings often depicted nature's beauty; the shape of a tree, the petals of a flower etc.. After Sanjiv's untimely death at the age of 19 in 1991, Charmaine held an exhibition of his lifetime work. "This was a very difficult task. Fortunately for me, I had the backing of a dedicated team of staff at the advertising company, Delgraphics that Sanjiv and I founded," she says. High quality There were 110 paintings from his earliest work to his last sketches at the age of 19 exhibited at the National Art Gallery. The exhibition was titled 'Beyond Life'. Following Sanjiv's death and the exhibition, several people including Nihal Fernando and Reggie Candappa urged Charmaine to publish the works of Sanjiv in a book. Charmaine together with her staff did the preliminary work of the book. Candappa and Fernando supported immensely. The painting that had been sold were collected, photographed and copied and in 1995, the dummy was ready for publication. But, Charmaine couldn't bear it and finally gave it up. "I couldn't bring my mind to do it. But all of a sudden in recent times, I started thinking about it - pulled out everything again and started organising the printing work. We chose a publisher in Singapore, because they could print the drawings and paintings in their original colours," she says. By publishing the work of Sanjiv, Charmaine does not expect any financial gains. "I want many children to know of his talent and specially I would like it to reach a wide range of people here and abroad," she says. The 200-page volume of paintings and drawings in full colour and black and white have been printed on high quality wood free paper. The book has been published by the Sanjiv Mendis Memorial Foundation. It will be shortly available at Delgraphics (Pvt) Ltd, Colombo. **** Back **** |
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