A brush with fantasy and surreal give a peek into her emotions
View(s):
It takes some convincing and a closer look to realize Geshany Balder’s latest exhibits are in fact paintings. Resembling a piece of digital art at first glance, her work is an unpredictable layering of genres ranging from fantasy to abstract. Intricate details that jump to life at a closer inspection, together with myth-inspired animals that spark curiosity, give one a glimpse of where Geshany’s imagination takes her. A therapeutic release for as long as she can remember, the 27-year-old has developed a distinct style of splaying her emotions on canvas. “There is a word for it,” she tells us, speaking of her plunge into neo-surrealism.
After an art teacher at the Colombo International School, Madava Arunashantha, changed the way she approached art, Geshany has been using her skill as a medium of expression. The epiphany also inspired her to pursue higher education in the subject for which she moved to Berlin. “I was there for six years,” she shares, studying both conventional art as well as digital art in the form of graphic design.
The work on display at the Ruby Studio Gallery in Ward Place, is a tasteful mix of her emotions and the mark left by her time abroad. “There was a lot of self- discovery involved,” according to Geshany, who has a collection of pieces crafted over a year to show for it. Each creation tells the story of an emotion for the artist. “For instance,” she says directing us to a rectangular canvas on which rabbits peek out from soft clouds all set among delicate white roses, “This piece is called ‘play’” and it comes from what she calls her “happy place.” Sneaking-in a line of music or a row of insects for detail, this ability she credits to her study of digital art.
One of the first things the artist noticed during her student years abroad was the muted use of colour. “Everything was toned-down and minimal,” she recalls. Much like her current collection of paintings which are bathed in hues of blue, the influence she admits has rubbed-off. What she can’t account for is how the whole collection took on a bluish tinge, “perhaps it was how I felt.”
Shades of blue however are the only common factors among the paintings. Capturing delicately fluttering feathers and elephants lurking among foliage, each painting conveys a different mood speckled with Geshany’s unique style.
Geshany’s Balder’s work is currently on display during working hours at the Ruby Studio Gallery, at Ward Place, Colombo 7. The exhibition continues
until June 18.