Rhythm of the 'nude' as Sameera Kalupahana sees themA
Gwen HERAT
The world's greatest dancer of the last century, Rudolf Nureyev once
said that the male figure was far more attractive than the female nude
but artist Sameera Kalupahana thinks otherwise.
One look at his paintings where they were mounted at the Lionel Wendt
auditorium in his solo exhibition last week called 'nude', he has
exposed the female form to her height of contours and curves. I for one
agree with Nureyev that the male nude has more to offer than the female.
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Seated Nude ink and watercolour |
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Standing Nude in charcoal, 2008 |
From a painter's point of view, muscles and physical strength
distributed all over the body outdo a women's curves. Unfortunately,
Sameera had only a few male nudes and those few were certainly not in
focus.
The characterization of figures in Sameera's visuals may have been
influenced by some poetic expressions. I found poetry in his nude.
Hidden away from facial features, there was body language in the
drawings. A self-projected image of confidence surrounds the painter
which he has imparted into this studies. He is a fugitive from tradition
but brilliant on canvas.
There is no immorality in his work because nudes can be complicated
and suggestive and interpreted to mislead the viewer. They are clean and
direct, beautiful as creation itself and slightly influenced by Courtbet.
I will call it progressive art because in the near future Sameera is
going to explode in his subject. He is such a remarkable painter,
unaware what is in store for him, that he can clash with leading
painters of nudes around the world. Such is the scale of his painting.
True enough that his female model is shy, reiterating and diminutive,
all which makes up the chaste Asian girl in her approach to womanhood.
The figures are on the threshold of life, like a bud awaiting to
unfurl into a rose. He is not an artist of theory but of harmony and
beauty.
The colours are subtle and soft and in continuity in the strokes he
produces. They are not brash or uncomprising. He is gentle with the
brush and do not jerk, neither free-flowing.
Essentially a figurative painter, there is visual music to the
beholder and a sort of symphony arising out from some of his paintings
if one were to gaze for a while. No doubt, Sameera has immortalised the
female form and set it on a pedestal. The postures of his figures are
limited to either standing, sitting or reclining.
There is no motion in any. He could have her running, bathing,
breast-feeding, or dancing by herself. The reclining figure is often
brushed up until the traces are visible.
In short, Sameera's nude is a visual document of the female form. I
do not think he ever had a model or someone in particular when he drew
but I saw a similarity in many of them. Subconsciously Sameera's brush
stray towards pro-keyt images of still life women. Where George was bold
and monumental, Sameera Kalupahana remains soft and gentle.
He is not an artist in search of subjects or go to history and
mythology to produce the form because he finds them all over from his
village to the urbane.
Sameera is passionate about what he puts on canvas and he is in no
hurry to evaluate his talents. But what is it that separates him from
the rest? Because he has no exclusive doctrine but the pitch of
excitement he enrich his painting makes him a prodigiously gifted
painter.
He is not bound by rules but with a compelling power to adore and
homage the woman.
I think that is the message he conveys from his canvas. |
