Bygone dreams and forebodings

Jayanthi Liyanage

If you ask W.M.P. Sudharshana Bandara to decipher his paintings, he will not be contented.

For him, a painting is a text of which the beholder must draw his own inferences through that ‘inward’ eye. “Read my paintings and enjoy according to your knowledge, creativity and experience,” says Sudharshana.

Displayed on the walls along the stairway of the American Centre from January 6 to February 5, his ‘Past and Present’ exhibition is a mix of modern, abstract, natural styled and symbolic paintings and drawings. Even, American Centre Director and Press, Cultural and Educational Affairs Officer Jeff Anderson, “thinks about them for several minutes each day” as he walks up the stairs.

Sudarshana’s specialty is his ‘Dreams’ collection, combining symbols and even electronics. “Dreams are an important part of my life,” says Sudarshana.

“My dream is my child. The child is creative tradition, creative generation and creative future and I wanted to introduce these feelings.

“The slipper, figuring prominently in his dreams is his shaken reaction to an accident in the past.

“It’s a tragedy series,” he remarks. It also reminded me of W.B. Yeats’ line ‘tread softly because you tread on my dreams.’ His painting ‘The Monk’ speaks of a contemporary monk requiring to surmount untold barriers of ties and corruption.

Sudarshana has gathered a considerable measure of European and Eastern influence that counts among it George Braque, Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gough, Justin Deraniyagala, George Keyt and Stanley Kirinde. A product of the Peradeniya University, the Peradeniya traditions are evident in his art.

“But the important thing is that he has his unique approach to paintings, specially the series of dreams he has depicted. That style will evolve in the future,” said National Centre for Advanced Studies in Social Science and Humanities Director Prof. Laksiri Fernando, addressing the gathering of academics to the opening ceremony in which University Grants Commission Chairman Prof. Gamini Samaranayake was the Chief Guest.

“I have no formal background in paintings,” said Fernando. “I admire paintings because of colours, lines and shapes. I came to know from Sudarshana that colour has a symbol, a line has rhythm and a shape has some substance. When you synthesize these three things, you have a painting. Paintings are imagined realities. In your imagination, they visualize the future and beyond our material experience, to give sensation and pleasure to others.” This mantra will give you a clue to Sudarshana’s paintings.

The program of opening space in the American Centre to local artistes in a cultural exchange began a year ago, said the American Center Director and about eight such artistes have been highlighted in the interim. “We are trying to use this space in the stairway symbolically connecting Sri Lankans and Americans together,” he said. “Sudharshana is one of the best artistes we have had so far and he really brightens up this space with his work.”

Sudharshana is a lecturer at the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Peradeniya, having passed his Bachelors with First Class Honours in Fine Arts. He won Mr. and Mrs. Ukkubandara Ranatunge Gold Medal in Fine Arts for producing the best results of the Special Arts Degree-Part three examinations in 2001/2002. He has completed his Masters in Philosophy.

He has held a number of exhibitions in and out of the country and designed cover pages, University greeting cards and handled make up art, stage sets and costumes for drama. He did a documentary film on Degaldoruwa and was the Art Director for Diyasittham, Thimira Patala and Dawala Agni teledrama. He contributed consultancy services for children’s workshops and authored three books, a large number of articles and abstract papers.

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