Semage wins another laurel
R.S. Karunaratne
The Solius Mendis Foundation has decided to honour the
internationally known Kalasuri Jayasiri Semage with the National Award
for 2009. The award ceremony is jointly organized by the Solius Mendis
Foundation, the Cultural Department and the Samastha Lanka
Vruththeeyange Sangamaya. The award ceremony will be held at the John de
Silva Memorial Theatre, Colombo on September 20. Cultural Minister
Piyasiri Wijenayake will be the chief guest.
Semage at work |
Kalasuri Jayasiri Semage has carved a niche for himself in the world
of art. He has combined the salient features of Sigiri and Ajantha art
traditions and has evolved his own style.
He has held numerous solo art exhibitions both in Sri Lanka and
foreign countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Sweden,
Finland, Switzerland, and Nepal. His paintings have appealed to a wide
cross section of art lovers around the world.
Semage decorated the Sri Lankan stalls at the Expo exhibitions with
beautiful art works done in the traditional way. After he held his first
exhibition in Geneva, one of his paintings was selected for permanent
display at the United Nation's office. This was a singular honour
bestowed on a Sri Lankan artist for the first time.
All the Presidents of Sri Lanka have utilized his services on many
occasions. He designed a colourful pandal for the opening ceremony of
the Mahaweli Project during President J.R. Jayewardene's rule. When R.
Premadasa was the President he put up many pandals for Gam Udava
functions. During the same period his services were sought to put up
pandals for Mahapola anniversaries. During President Chandrika
Kumaratunga's rule he put up a giant pandal in front of the BMICH for
its jubilee ceremony. He put up another pandal depicting Dasaraja Dharma
for Vesak in front of the Parliamentary complex in 2006 on the
initiative of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. His latest assignment was to
do the murals at the Buddhist temple in Lumbini, Nepal on a concept of
President Mahinda Rajapaksa. After working on the project, Kalasuri
Jayasiri Semage and his team of artists returned to the island recently. |