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Nuwan Nalaka:
sailing to fame
 As a tradition, Sri Lankan art pivots between two positions, insular
and perpetuating but in its endeavour not to embrace foreign influence,
plays an important part in the mind of the Sri Lankan painter. One sees
less foreign ideas where tradition detracts the conflicting influences
that preclude the essential vibrancy of the Lankan artist. Having said
thus; the art of Nuwan Nalaka is essentially the modern thought from
which has sprung the eternal quest for perfection.
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A stunning
boat ready to sail |
Nalaka reduces the components of the sea and sky to focus his pet
subject, the boat ... The various graded permutations ranging from the
sea and river and equated to different composites such as light, shade
and colour. In this theme, Nalaka is bold and captivating and thrust his
brush in broken strokes with last vigour. As his boats come alive, one
could feel the noise of the flapping sails bellowing in the wind.
And Nalaka creates poetry in art.
The use of broken brush strokes and multiple colour he splashes on
his canvas is remarkable. Highlighted by the distant skies and the misty
blues and purples, led by fiery reds, his brush is unlimited on the
palate. They are all filled with unparalleled heights of brilliance. In
his chosen subject; boats. Nalaka is simply spectacular as he stamps his
signature on them.
Very individualistic for a modern artist who sees
dreams on a voyage of searching for more, his solo exhibition titled 'A
Voyage on Boats which he boarded at the Lionel Wendt few days back,
speaks volume for his courage to remain within the frame of boats in
their quest to sail along to the distances. Boats is a fascinating
subject to all nature artists who at some point in their painting, have
come up at least with one painting on boats.
Confining himself to the medium of watercolour which no doubt
produces better and exquisite results than oil on canvas or acrylic but
is extremely difficult to handle and on many instances a painter after
completing a gorgeous piece of art, gets frustrated in the event any
water-soluble paint lets him down on the canvas. Watercolouring is a
tricky medium and unless the artist is well adapt to its formula, it
will end in disaster since it is not easy to cover up a mistake unlike
in oil. Nalaka is fully aware of this factor when he takes on a painting
and careful enough not to mess it up.
I know of another painter who is
very accurate in which she does with water colours and she paints on a
damp canvas and come up with excellent results. Nalaka who is blessed
with a load of creativity, his stunning boats are the witness to his
amorous red. This colour he places in the forefront with pale blues and
grey whites of the sky. In one painting, I saw a hint of a storm
breaking over a stationed lonely boat on the beach.
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Red sail
fluttering in the wind |
The tones of composition that was the foundation to his art has
changed the rough exercise of imagination for Nalaka for short brush
strokes and broken sweeps in the washes of water colour techniques.
There is a narrative character in his boats, a purpose he would have had
in his mind as he finished one boat after the other. His prime concern
may have been to surface the play and fall of light on his subject.
The revival of classical ideals around the world has had very little
impact on our painters but they have sensed the essence of it and subtly
translated the embodiment of beauty and the unified nature of its
elegance encompassing both the canvas and the fame as a unit. I would
classify Nalaka as such an artist.
In the future Nalaka will be gaining strides in his chosen art
because as young as he is, he has almost captured our imagination.
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