Kalapola celebrates the best of local art
Jayanthi Liyanage
Artist Pradeep Jayatunga has stayed with the George Keyt Foundation (GKF)
since 1991 when he won the third prize as the youngest contestant at
“Young Contemporaries” as an advanced level student. He has participated
in all arts event of GKF, including “Kalapola” and says, “The public
response to us has been great!” and that his paintings have had the
opportunity to be sold locally and overseas.
|
A preview of Kalapola. Picture by Sudath Nishantha |
“George Keyt was alive to give away my prize,” recollects computer
analyst programmer- turned-fashion buyer Jayatunge, adding “Since then
Mr. Cedric and Mrs. Seetha de Silva has been like parents to us. We
respect them a great deal as we are in this position today due to their
efforts.”
He has a collection of about 400 paintings of which he will exhibit
some at this year’s Kalapola, Sri Lanka’s popular open art gallery cum
art fair, taking stage on the road-sides of Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha
in Colombo 7, opposite the National Art Gallery on Sunday, February 21.
He currently paints on the theme “Woman in the Changing World”.
“George Keyt was a most distinguished and renowned modern painter and
was also a poet and writer. His fame as a painter obscured his
significance as a poet and writer and he had made an unparallelled
contributiuon to Art and Culture of our times,” said GKF Chairman Cedric
de Silva at the media conference held at Cinnamon Grand Hotel on
February 1, to announce Kalapola 2010. GKF, begun in1988, has organized
events such as Young Contemporaries, Kalapola, Nawa Kala Karuwo, Sri
Lankan Art and International Artist Camps.
“At Kalapola, an artist can bring in only about five to six
paintings. But the artists can get to know each other and the public get
to know them. We provide a catalogue with the addresses and telephone
numbers of the artists so that the public can visit them, see their
other paintings and select the ones the public wishes to buy,” explained
de Silva. Therefore, the relationship between the artists and the public
develops.
“We are also working on getting our art across the ocean,” added de
Silva. “Any artist can participate at Kalapola. We insert in newspapers
advertisements in all three languages and artists can register with a
fee of Rs.500. Kalapola began in 1993 with 38 artists. In this year’s
Kalapola, 300 artists are expected to participate.”
This is the 16th Kalapola John Keells Holdings PLC (JKHP) has
sponsored, to assist GKF. “Nurturing the arts is essential to preserving
the soul of society and it is our responsibility to keep the arts
alive,” said JKHP Executive Vice President and Corporate Social
Responsibility Foundation Head Lalith Ramanayake.
“We are strongly committed to supporting arts and culture. Kalapola
provides a platform to budding artists from around the island to display
their work. It is also a viable source of income for them, empowering
them financially and encouraging them to pursue their careers.”
“Visiting an Art Gallery to appreciate art is still a habit of a
limited urban society,” artist Chaminda Gamage shared his experiences at
the Media Conference. “Kalapola is the venue that practically brings
together artists and ordinary citizens.
Kalapola fills a gap in that it gives an opportunity to ordinary folk
to get an idea of art deemed as not understood by them.” To make this
concept a reality, he invited rural people and school children to come
to see Kalapola.
GKF Trustees Arun Dias Bandaranayeke, Prof. Albert Dharmasiri, Tissa
Devendra and Nihal Rodrigo were also present to proffer their views. |
