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| Wednesday, 17 November 2004 |
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Amarasena Kodituwakku Intense colours and austere beauty by Gwen Herat He increases the intensity of his paintings by placing primary colours side by side, his favourites being green and blue. By moisturising these colours, he produces different shades, each mingling with the other to create a fusion green that is earth and blue in the heavens. He also adds vibrancy to their combinations with other colours such as orange and yellow. Colour happens to be his single passion. Greatly obsessed by its possibilities, artist Amarasena Kodituwakku expresses the magnitude of the power of colour relationship. He intensifies its richness to the point of leaving out black where it is not necessary. Violet is used to highlight shadows or reflections.
Being an artist with deep thoughts on theories which I gathered more from him rather than from his work, Kodituwakku is able to reveal his visions on canvas straight from his mind. None of his figures are daring or aggressive which is a reflection from this soft spoken and mild gentleman. Training Careful construction of his paintings reflects the training he has procured from his 'gurus' the famous David Paynter, S. Charles, Tissa Ranasinghe and Stanley Abeyasinghe as a student at the College of Fine Arts. But Kodituwakku is essentially a self-motivated artist drawing his inspirations from the rural of his village and the scenic beauty of Nawimana in the deep South.
Often surrounded by the lush paddy fields and her greenery, the burgeon studded with flowers of the wild, the tiny rivulets and the sparkling sun on the sliding waters, the deep blue of the heavens; they were all playing havoc in the mind of the young Kodituwakku before he held a brush or picked a palette. He was also drawn to temple murals, the folk, ritual and devil dances, village belles at bath and the simple village folk he met from day to day. He carried their simplicity and openness in his subconscience that enabled him to put them on canvas. Enigmatic recollection I was greatly impressed by 'Taking his bride home'. An enigmatic recollection of an exuberant village youth taking his comely bride home after the wedding in a cart drawn by a majestic looking bull decked in royal splendour. The focus-point of the painting was the animal. Kodituwakku was trying to send a message through this concept, and it stirred my mind. The deeper I looked, more clearly I realised why he had sidelined the bride to focus on the beast.
His adoration for animals was evident. This oil on canvas had volumes of greens and blues mixing into a haze of arabesque. It was a tribute to living vegetation. I, somehow, could not comprehend 'The triple birth' but it was a bit of fascinating art directly blown out of the artist's imagination. Among the 45 exhibits, none overlapped each other. He had maintained a distinct individuality between them not only in line or colour but in concept too. Some of the paintings were abstract while a very modern trend too had found its way into them. There were no sexism neither erotic but the sensuous lines lingered on figures in a snake-like flow. However, the austere beauty of form also makes me recall Motagedera, an artist I used to admire very much as a school girl. The originality of his paintings lie in a perspective sense though he is no doubt a great colourist. Graceful There is a geometric harmony that is graceful and the power to capture the fall of light, richly harmonises the colouring in his works. At no point is his work loud nor aggressive that makes his work appealing even to the modern eye. I will not classify his paintings because they are caught up between different schools but well immersed. It is someone like Amarasena Kodituwakku who can uphold the lingering solitude and the calm of the mind of the beholder. Very few artists can rise to this occasion and in the very disciplined mind of this humble, humane man is the artist born. His exhibition was held at the Lionel Wendt recently. **** Back **** |
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