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Kala Pola, the spirit of man

They were there by the dozens and scores; a whole multitude of Sri Lanka’s talented artists from every nook and corner of the island painting the Sunday morning at Vihara Maha Devi Park in an arabesque of colour and line. Hundreds of people mixed with the artists in a relaxed atmosphere.

The sun was scorching but a wisp of cold blowing touched the arts lovers gently, almost caressing them.

The carnival atmosphere that prevailed the Kala Pola, a tribute by the George Keyt Foundation to the talented young and not-so young painters and sculptors was certainly a great opportunity for them to exhibit and market their products. There was brisk selling for the treasure hunters.

I was amazed at the human spirit of all involved; the buyer and the sellers, the painter and the sculptor, they all made the day so perfect that put the street painters of Kensington far behind. This is a spot I visit when I am in London and its aura had always fascinated me but this Kala Pola was a dream come true.

I left the rest of my companions to sort out things for themselves and wandered alone, up and down for three solid hours and what lay before my eyes, made me feel very, very proud of my countrymen. I never had this experience as a young one when I did art nor exposed to any of its magic. No wonder: I ended being a lousy painter.


Nature in her splendour by Menaka Udaynagani oil on canvas, 72 x 48

If I may say, many were fugitives from tradition not quiet able to find their specialities but I did find a few avant-garde painters, there were paradoxes, tangled in or caught up in their own failures that could have been corrected at the beginning had they benn under professional guidance.

These were the self-taught ones but their attempts were courageous. I found all artistes very disciplined and dedicated to their chosen field. Some works of young painters were admirable. Some appear to believe that the fundamental of art was to create beauty.

Artists in the spotlight
  • Niroshan Seneviratne: Horses brought to life in his paintings, magnificent, natural
     
  • Harshini Pandiwawela: ‘Naturalist’ oil on canvas
     
  • Asaj Sampath: Another animal lover, paints them oil-on-canvas
     
  • George Anton: An unusual artist, confining himself to black/white zebra designs in acrylic
     
  • Kamalka Jayalath: Panel drawing on canvas. Bold and sober colours used
     
  • Lester Ruhunuhewa: One of the few ‘Cubism’ artists I came across. Oil on canvas
     
  • Vasantha Balasuriya: A talented street-painter. Also specialises in charcoal art
     
  • Indika Pathmananda: Contemporary artist using bold shades of red, blue and orange in acrylic
     
  • D. A. Rajapakse: Artist in wood-carving. Master works done from roots and dried up branches with wood preservatives.
     
  • Gupta Soyza: This sage-looking artist is influenced by Buddhism and paints them on these lines. Very artistic figures, mostly lovers from folk-lore. Oil on canvas
     
  • Asanga Nelundeniya: Contemporary artist. most of the time using a single colour in its different shades. In acrylic.
     
  • Ruwan Upasena: Lover of nature in her full bloom. Watercolour and acrylic.

Some were caught up in the increasingly modified method of applying paint on canvas while other went berserk with no control. But most had a sense of progressive ideas and very clearly was no slave to any Master.

I did see some paintings resembling those of Rossetti, Millais and Courbert but they were very poor reproductions that escaped the roaring eyes of the crowds. Don’t ask me how I detected them. The truth is I did.

One could feel the music coming off from some paintings and poetry in others. Our nation, yes, they are great in literary and artistic qualities and we are a nation of beautiful arts, culture and literacy. So, painting makes natural to them.

Realism, naturalism, cubism... they were all there but not as slaves to these mediums. The harmony and beauty from the rural was upmost while more than half the painters opted for contemporary or modern and they were a riot of colour, lines, shades and strokes, running wild in every directions.

The classicism in the city and river, the verdant village, came out loud and clear to stamp the identity of the Sri Lankan painter. Their flawless beauty, colour and form were artistic visions, universally significant to us.

The extreme perfection of some portrait painters displayed exquisite in conception and appearance but they were very few. Most artists designed different decorative schemes for their exhibits. Some strove for restrained and harmonious effect while others voided excessive colour and strong tonal contrasts which did confuse me. With a sea of painters, where was I to begin.

As I kept walking, I settled down with few of them that I picked on impulse. They were flamboyant, eager, young professionals, some straight after their university studies. Did they see a future in their pallets, a rainbow in the sky.

One thing I learnt from them that made me feel sad was, that most opted for acrylic instead of oil-on-canvas because they could not afford it. Some had used watercolour too.

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