Black and white symphony displayed at Vibhavi
 

The World of Arts reviewed by Gwen Herat

A painter with an eye for incidental details that adds sombreness to otherwise every day subjects but with an acute awareness. The simplicity of his strokes suggest a combination of elements but with excellent visual results. But some of his paintings remain characteristically flat due to the use of strong black/white union. The cold rigid lines he had used on the horses in one of his paintings caught my eyes owing to the curving strokes and pliant softness on these animals.

Saman Liyanage's paintings were constructed on their balance of composition and colour. He is a young painter with harmony in aspect with temperament but he has a long way to go before he gets a hold of himself. There is a lot in this painter that is to come and Liyanage must strive to 'throw up' what is hidden inside.

Apparently here is an artist who believes that one should paint only the world he knows. His uncompromising images and atitudes are of an observer rather than of imagination.

Hailing from the rural and refreshing Wewala in Horana, Saman Suganada Liyanage studied up to his O/Levels at Horana Rajakeeya Vidyalaya displaying a keen interest in art from an early age. He moved over to Horana Vydyarathaha Vidyalaya to study A/Levels where he offered arts as a subject under the guidance of Ariyapala Gamage.

Later he came under the renown Chandragupta Thenuwara of the Vibhavi Academy of Fine Arts and deputed at a group exhibition held in the academy's gallery in 1997. From there he exhibited his works at this gallery in group exhibitions in 1998 and 1999 at their annual displays. With each year, he improved shifting from water colours to oils.

In 2000 Liyanage was involved in the street painting at Gregory's Road in a project called 'Flag-Painting for Artists for Peace' He is a committed artist at the Vibhavi Academy of Fine Arts and continue to do so as he has much to achieve.

Saman Liyanage's Tortoise was easily the best exhibit in black and white at the 9th Alumini Show of WAFA held at the Lionel Wendt end of October. Horse was yet another that appealed to me. There was also some untitled paintings by Manjula Priyadarshana that were commendable. Vajira Krsihanthi's still life titled Life was yet another commendable attempt. All painters appeared very amateurish but then, they are all students. Still Life by Deepika Welikala was meaningful and had a place in the exhibition.

The displaying artists at this exhibition were Anura Krishantha, Arjuna Gunaratne, Chamilka Jayawardena, Chandana Wasantha, Christine Ruth, Deepika Welikala, Kusal Gunasekera, Manjula Priyadarshana, Saman Liyanage and Wajira Krishantha, One thing that was obvious was the fact that Vibhavi Academy of Fine Arts has allowed these artists to bloom upon their own talent without intercepting and turning them in alternate directions. Their natural aptitudes were obvious and that is how artists should be guided.

The very idea of Sri Lankan art is intriguing and given the flow of emerging artists, the subject is rich in evidence. Sri Lankan art is rich and brimming with innovation and conservation.

Though many 'arty' subjects do not go hand in hand, painting has maintained a tradition of its own, where the emerging painters express themselves in various themes and modes.

Some opt for contemporary, modern, traditional, portraiture, still life, object, etc. Cubism too has crept in a big way but one must be thankful to our crop of artists that they have not been influenced by the outside world and its painters. I once asked a painter whether he was influenced by Picasso as I saw it in his art. "No" he replied. I have never seen a painting by Picasso. I was happy at the answer which reflected that painters want to be identified by their own worth.

The paucity of religion and cultural heritage is always reflected in our art because they find great inspiration and pride in them. Portraiture had been a dominant form of art for some time but presently, takes a back seat.

Nude studies are carefully lined to hide nakedness but the ones that are exhibited are wonderfully related to the supple, long-limbed, tanned sensuous bodies of our beautiful women. None follow the stylistic successors but emulate a legacy often left behind by our temple painters. Kandyan art is yet anther speciality but not quit there when it comes for display. Oils on canvas, water colour as a genre, is at its height among our artists. Most of them depend on nature to supply the colour, texture-combinations.

There are also many artists who stand by a single-colour concept with green being the firm favourite. But we do miss the influence of medieval and classical literature in our art.

Why have all these artists forgotten our heritage. I do not see any of it in modern artists who attempt on landscaping, figures and their own fantasies.

These were my thoughts when I walked back from the small but impressive exhibition at the Vibhavi Academy of Fine Arts.

Concert of Baroque Music

Concert of Baroque Music with Leipziger Barocksolisten from Germany will be held on Sunday 27 November 2005 at 7.00 p.m. at the Colombo International School Auditorium 28 Gregory's Road, Colombo 7 (opp. German Cultural Centre).

The event is organised by the German Cultural Centre in co-operation with The Colombo International School. Tickets are available at the German Cultural Centre.

This sextet consists of instrumentalists from the famous Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig: Peter Wettemann (trumpet), Stefan Arzberger (violin), Thomas Hipper (oboe), Thomas Reinhardt (bassoon), Tobias Martin (double bass) and Johanna Franke (harpsichord).

The ensemble was founded in the year 2000 and focuses its attention on the works of Arcangelo Corelli, Johann Friedrich Fasch, Bodin de Boismotier, Gottfried Finger, Georg Friedrich Telemann, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Wilhelm Hertel and other Baroque masters.

There is so much of joy, directness and elan in their play, that you really feel the authenticity of their presentation.

What these young musicians might have understood is to communicate in almost a sensual and amusing way the spirit of the Baroque music to a contemporary audience.

The American Record Guide wrote "The performances are lucidly played with understanding and convivial spirit", and MDR Kultur puts it "a joy for every sound freak, who aims nothing else but relaxing within an environment of excellent played Baroque music".

Review:

A murder? A mystery? Madness!
 

by Sandra Fernando

Perhaps a bit of everything! Certainly slapstick and farce, buffoonery and comedy. This was the Murder Mystery evening staged by the Bishop's College PPA at their annual dinner on 6th November at the Colombo Plaza. (That was the reason why we couldn't get into the parking lot that night!)

When I was asked, some months ago, by a classmate if I would participate in a dinner theatre production for the Bishop's College PPA's annual dinner, I said yes without batting an eyelid. I had no idea what dinner theatre was! So I had no idea what I was in for - and that was probably the best way to set about the mad rush we had in the end!

I do recall saying that I wanted to see the script first. It's just as well that I don't always mean what I say because there was none! There was a general idea that was generally explained to a general meeting of generously volunteering old girls. Old? Some of them are so very young! (No, I'm not old. Yet. I still have a little way to go to reach my middle ages!)

And then we went into rehearsals. These were the most unusual sort of rehearsals I've ever been to. I've been to brisk ones where the time flew. I've been to nervy ones where we were sure we were going to make asses of ourselves.

And I've been to sluggish ones where people didn't know their parts or hadn't brought their music/scripts or simply hadn't all turned up. But these unscripted, unstructured rehearsals threw us upon the resources of our own wits and imaginations.

The characters that subsequently strutted, sashayed or stumbled into the Colombo Plaza on The Night were a consequence of hours of negotiation and brainstorming. (Be generous about this and don't make the obvious comments about brains, okay?)

The characters were clearly defined and identified by unambiguous names: Grand Dame Lolita Looney (Angela Seneviratna), Maapilla Matamoko (Mohamed Adamally), Deshabandu Kabala Kondalage Hiribiris, the Honourable Minister of Donor Relations and Self Service (Dominic Kellar), J Blow (Laila Gunasekera), Nicolle Tittman (Terina Perera), Penelope Screws (Zahara Maruzook) and so on.

Dinner theatre is supposed to make it possible to "combine professional and amateur talent," (I got that from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-dinner-theater.htm, because I wanted to look like I know what I'm talking about) so that's why we had such a mix of well knowns and unknowns.

We had Jerome de Silva supporting us by playing La Jigg-me, a gay lover, Sean Amarasekera playing Esunthe Ferrari, a Spanish drug baron who wouldn't make an honest woman of his girl friend ("I took precautions but one of my swimmers got loose," he said at rehearsal), Malini Tambyah playing Malini de Silva, fashion icon of the '60's, and Asma Jeevunjee playing Vasanthi Lingamless, wife of a famous plastic surgeon. More well knowns and unknowns thrown together!

Would it work, though? That was the big question! The only proof was to be in the pudding of our opening/closing night, the only night on which we would perform. And on The Night, we assembled in the lobby for cocktails before dinner. While we were meeting and greeting the evening's performers strolled, staggered and snuck around in the lobby for about 20 minutes, so the ever growing audience could begin to grasp plot and characters.

Dinner theatre is meant to be interactive (that's what the website says), so we mingled with our friends, teachers, elders and the next few generations as well (while knocking back a few cocktails!). Then we moved into the banquet hall for the rest of the performance, which consisted of a murder and an inquiry into whodunit.

So, did it work? Well, from my vantage point - which was mostly behind the platform, facing the audience - yes, it did. The plot twisted and writhed its way through multiple motives and possible murderers like an Agatha Christie.

Characters were grilled by Maapilla, the Head of Security of the Exalted Emperor of the Imperial Kingdom of Hubla Hua, His Majesty Mikhail Kutiskokoff (who thought up these names!) played by Deshan Devasanayagam.

Like peeling an onion, layer by layer, the audience was taken deeper and deeper into the self centred machinations of characters young and old alike. Just as it seemed as if the whole crisis had been caused by an accident, the truth - and the murderer - was revealed. (Ask an old girl who was there, okay? Don't expect all the answers from me!)

We had all manner of support in the short process. There were people who helped with the characters, the sound, the filming. . .

The filming? Was this a play or a film?

Ah, well! It's Bishop's College, right? It was dinner theatre with one major creative edge! Nafeesa Amiruddin, who coordinated, managed and directed this production, filmed certain sections of the play and replayed them on a screen during the interrogation.

Thus there was no way out, no wriggle room for any of the characters. They simply couldn't deny talking about poisoning His (obnoxious) Imperial Majesty. The device of clips played over during the performance helped to strengthen the plot and ensure that anyone who may have missed out on part of the earlier developments had a second chance to pick them up.

So, as I was saying, we had all manner of support - people who did the sound, the filming, gave specialist technical advice on how to handle the screening of sections of the play. Thanks, guys - you're not named in the programme, but we couldn't have pulled this off without you! There were also people who helped us throw together the most outrageous costumes: the emperor's wife, Kastrina Kutiskokoff, played by Shanuki de Alwis, shed black feathers from her boa all the way, and two of the harem ladies looked like something out of "The Great Gatsby"!

And there were our families, friends, teachers and the extended family of Bishop's College. Without their support, the 31 of us who acted and the dozen or so who managed the performance and the event couldn't possibly have had the fun we did. Fun as it was for those who watched, it was more so for those of us who arranged, managed, coordinated and/or acted. We're planning a cast party now - hmm - wonder what's on the menu this time ...!

Sri Lankan Foundation honours California poet and artist

Charles Perera, a nationalized US citizen from Sri Lanka, and a resident of Palm Desert, CA was recognized for his accomplishments as a poet and an artist with an Exceptional Achievement Award at this years 3rd Annual Sri Lanka Foundation Awards Ceremony, held at the Globe Theater at the Universal Studios, in Universal City, CA. Mr. Perera, who writes under the pen name of Casca, has also been awarded the title of International Poet of Merit, 2001 and received the nomination for the title of Poet Laureate for California.

He is a member of the Coachella Valley Arts Alliance, and is an avid promoter for the arts in the Coachella Valley. Over seven hundred attended the gala and award ceremony.

Charles Perera was nominated for the prestigious award by his long time friend and artist representative Bob Silva.