Fostering a generation

Nipuni Wimalapala

Age means naught when it comes to art. An artist excels in his creativity till he dies. R D K Jayawardena being 92 year old says that his creativity sharpens with his age.

Even today, despite age, he continues doing outstanding paintings and writing dramatic sarcastic and meaningful literary pieces.

RDK Jayawardena

With a warm smile, he started the discussion. “I am an old guy, but my age never becomes a restriction to my work. Throughout my long life, I have entertained and enlighten people via different forms of art. I am a man with an abiding interest in art and literature,” he said.

“I started my career as a playwright 60 years ago. It was such a wonderful time. I did everything successfully. I continued it for a long time wining three awards including the State Literary Award in 2003 for ‘Beyond the Mirror Wall’ which was highly appreciated by many intellects. I am not only a writer, but a very good painter and I could form many other painters within the family. My wife, my daughters, son and myself are painters. And I am very much happy to say that my grandchildren are also painters. We are a family full of art,” Jayawardena noted.

‘3 generations’ is the exceptional outcome of the creativity of this artistic family.

Following on from the first version, the highly successful ‘3 generations II’, became the even more ambitious and inspiring art exhibition of a family which held recently at the Colombo Public Library.

‘3 generations II’ was obviously exceptional since the quality paintings of 10 family members of different generations were exhibited. Sibil Wettasinghe was the chief guest of the opening. The family participants of the exhibition were R D K Jayawardena (father), late Dulcie Jayawardena (mother) Janaki Kuruppu (daughter), Dr. Chandi Jayawardena (son), Prof. Eisha Hewabowala (daughter), Dr. Suran Kuruppu (grandson), Marlon Jayawardena (grandson), Jehan Hewabowala (grandson), Danika Jayawardena (granddaughter) and Che Jayawardena (grandson).

All these family members are not only painters but of course academics. Since both senior Jayawardenas come from good educational background, their children were well guided to be educated. Dr. Chandi Jayawardene is a well competent educated character who respects the cultural values. He has held many art exhibitions though he is an academic by profession. Prof. Eisha Hewabowala, the daughter is also a known literary personality attached to the English Department of Kelaniya University. She inherits the writing ability and creativity of her father. Janaki Kuruppu is the other daughter who is also an aesthetic character who loves painting and piano being a graduate. Her son is Dr. Suran Kuruppu who is a combination of science and art.

R D K paints fast. To complete a painting he takes only a little time, but always makes sure that all the paintings are up to the standard. He is essentially a landscapist who does painting in different media such as oil on canvas, oil on board, watercolour on paper, mixed media on canvas and clay.

Jayawardena with his generation of artists. Pictures by Roshan Pitipana and Sumanachandra Ariyawansa

He had been to many countries such as Japan, France, USA, China and Philippine, where he improved his painting skills in different forms. Being an academic intellect, he always focuses on meaningful drawings to convey a message to the society.

In 1950s Jayawardena started his work as a playwright and in 1960s he was crucially associated with the Lake House.

He was attached to the Silumina newspaper where he wrote a regular column called ‘Hatharawaram’. It was a satirical column on the weekly events and wrote about cinema again in a satirical manner. Later he started working as a member of the Censor Board where he had hard but interesting time. Thereafter he worked as a member of the evaluation panel of the National Film Corporation. During these times, he has contributed his service to many cultural institutions to improve the cultural values and to impress the artistes in a culture- based manner. He has done most of these things voluntarily sacrificing his time.

It is with great delight he recalls his past work as the Secretary General, Sri Lanka National Commission for UNESCO and Chairman of a State Corporation. He has been an official delegate to UNESCO, WHO, ESCAP, WFC, AMIC etc. His official and private travels in many countries have also enabled him to pursue his interests in theatre, arts, painting and historic monuments.

Apart from all these occupations, he is always involves in penning down his aesthetic thoughts as poetry and sometimes novels. His latest work is, Fingerprint which is a collection of his poetry. Most of his poetry are very much appreciated by the literary academic figures of the country.

RDK emphasized the importance of artistes and writers to a society who possess a great capability to educate and entertain people. He stressed that in Sri Lanka most of the artistes are in need of money to expand their work. They do not have enough facilities to develop their career and especially they are short of financial strength to hold exhibitions.

Some of Jayawardena’s paintings

RDK enjoys every bit and piece of the memories his entire life and is very satisfied with what he has done. “Writing and painting give me strength to live. I try to paint and write a new piece every day. I simply want to boost my creativity through a new work of art always.

And I rather fascinate with the artistic capability and academic achievements of my children and grandchildren which is the ultimate outcome of my hard work. Undoubtedly they are assets to the country,” he noted with an enthusiastic manner.