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| Wednesday, 10 November 2004 |
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Artist Amarasena Kodithuwakku From 'Epoch' to 'Era' by Kalakeerthi Edwin Ariyadasa
As an ever-alert Artist, Amarasena Kodithuwakku, keeps on, moving on. On a previous occasion, he held on exhibition under the title "Epoch". In his latest display of works, he has entered a phase described as "Era". Artist Amarasena Kodithuwakku, is a creative person exuding a quiet and subdued power. There is nothing flamboyant or spectacular about him. The dominant trait of his art is restraint. At times a "folksy" simplicity comes through. His aesthetic evolution began in his childhood, spent in a village in the south of Sri Lanka. For a sensitive child, the village is a veritable institution for sentimental education. The natural splendour of the rural landscape, enriches the soul of the child as he grows up. The colourful rites and the rituals that are an integral part of the stream of life in the villages, etch deeply in the inner being of the village child, who has the right frequency to his rural environment. Aesthetic urges Amarasena Kodithuwakku, was able, with the passage of time, to refine his in-born aesthetic urges. His effusive creative yearnings acquired specific shape and direction at the Institute of Aesthetic Studies, where he had his formal education in art. During his long years in the Department of Education, as teacher and administrator, his own creative work, was, to some extent at least, in abeyance. Perhaps, retirement from formal and routine employment, unleashed his creativity. It was, in the atmosphere of retirement, that his art began to flourish. When artist Amarasena Kodithuwakku began to draw, the childhood memories seem to have asserted themselves in his subconscious. One of his paintings that amuses me very much, is the piece depicting the village groom, taking his coy bride on their honeymoon, in a cart drawn by a bull. Temple murals The lives evoke that of those temple murals, that stylize men, women, animals, trees and other physical features. The painting has a whimsicality, that makes it quite memorable. The colour that predominates is green, stressing the rural environment and a "feel" of soothing freshness. Even the face of the docile bull, assumes a vague human shape, making it a kind of willing companion to the bridal couple. The details are kept to a minimum, allowing the simplicity of expression to make its impact upon the viewer.
This charming simplicity echoes, in his painting on the theme of the perahera in Kandy. The high pageant is transformed into a spectacle in a child's world. The choreography of the pageant, as it is recorded in Amarasena Kodithuwakku's art, reflects the gleeful confusion a child experiences, when he is witnessing such a spectacle. The facility with which artist Amarasena Kodithuwakku can shift to a child's view-point in his art, is a special feature in his creative expression. Abstract painting His palette could be characterised as non-realistic, when he portrays human figures. But, in his arrangement of shapes and colour movements, he is in the region of abstract painting. As in many artists of our day, in Amarasena Kodithuwakku too we tend to detect a predilection to juggle realism and the abstract. This invariably results in a display of mixed offerings, restricting the possibility of the artist's 'personality' coming through. Artist Amarasena Kodithuwakku's semi-realistic abstract, of 'Mother and Child', deserves special mention as a piece with a variety of depths. In a careful study of this piece, the viewer can trace red streaks of blood in the mother's body converging on the child, implying, that the mother's affection transforms her blood into breast milk. His painting, depicting a 'Quartet of Women' is a well-arranged piece in blue and green. The figures are so harmonised, that, together, then communicate a highly pleasing sense of creative balance. It is one of the most advanced piece on display at this exhibition. Artist Amarasena Kodithuwakku, derives considerable inspiration from the motifs that the living pageant of existence in the south, can confer on the artist.
The life of the fisher-folk, as they unceasingly confront the vagaries of the deep sea, yields perennial subject - matter to artist Amarasena Kodithuwakku. As he presented the third exhibition of his works, artist Amarasena Kodithuwakku had hinted at a creative future replete with high promise. Lovers of art, can hail him as a significant talent, still in the process of emerging fully. Amarasena Kodithuwakku held an exhibition of his paintings at the Lionel Wendt Gallery, Colombo 7 recently. **** Back **** |
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