| Segar’s first joint exhibition of paintings with Scandinavian artist Ea Lind is on at Bayleaf, 79 Gregory’s Road, Colombo 7 till June 10.
Segar’s passion for painting has put him among the ranks of Sri Lanka’s most sought after painters today. He came into art relatively late, having been an accountant and then a public relations officer at Elephant House in the early eighties.
When one of his friends asked him for his suggestion for something for a church sale, he decided on some hand-made greeting cards. These artistic creations were the starting point and the recognition of his talent convinced him to produce more cards.
Segar’s first painting was of the ‘fish monger’ who stopped by at his home daily. Segar could not resist the temptation of framing the “fish monger” but hid his creation, fearing criticism from his family. His mother’s comment- “what a waste of the glass and the frame” made him so angry that he dumped the painting into the garbage. But he kept painting.
His talent became more refined as he used his biology and chemistry notebooks to sketch human figures in different forms. More and more greeting cards were the outcome of his hard work. Displayed on the shelves of popular bookshops, the demand for these cards was such that he quit his job at Elephant House to be an artist.
After a couple of his paintings displayed in the art gallery of renowned artist Senake Senanayake, were bought up fast, Segar knew he was on the right path. He followed the modern artists into a bewildering variety of art styles: realism, impressionism, expressionism, surrealism, cubism, abstraction, abstract expressionism, pop-art, neo-realism etc. along the way developing his own style “reflective effects in cubism”.
Shades of amber toning into subtle yellow and brown are Segar’s forte in blending colour. There are reproductions of his works on t-shirts, greeting cards, bed sheets and tablecloths, with and without the artist’s consent. Segar’s paintings are an unusual visual experience in that they are a combination of realistic and abstract.
Tracing the evolution of his love for cubism back to his early days of ‘cramped living’ in a housing estate in Colombo, he faithfully holds on to his belief that by changing his style, he would lose his identity.
D.Vysnavi
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