Lines that take on a life and rhythm of their own
Tilak Samarawickrema is an iconic and an iconoclastic figure. Passionate and provocative, sometimes explosive, there is nothing conformist or indeed correct about him. He cannot be predicted; he will always confound and confuse, do the opposite and be the very opposite of what you expect. He remains uniquely himself and uniquely Sri Lankan.Tilak’s line drawings began as a form of doodling, a restless scribbling which evolved into an art. His curving line has its origins in the contours of the Sinhala alphabet, echoing the vakadeka, the classic double curve, which has characterized Sinhala art for almost 2,000 years.
Tilak had always been fascinated by the line and what he felt was “its capacity to create space.” In his drawings, curving, laughing lines sweep across the paper. Creating space and form, they open new horizons on the page. His line is a sensual, voluptuous thing, like him, restless and always seeking. His wire sculptures capture this spirit, freezing it in time and space.
In Tilak’s hands, the line becomes a vital, living thing. Drawing flowing strokes, he creates moving, wobbling curves which animate, distort, enhance and caricature. Pulsating, sinuous curves, which define and suggest, they brim with a love of life, fun and mockery. Mischievous, provocative and irreverent, they are quintessentially Tilak.
Tilak’s love of animation begins with his short film Àndare of Sri Lanka (1977), a visual retelling of an ancient Sinhala folktale. Watching his drawings come to life, Tilak learned how to move his lines and synchronize them with sound. He was thrilled by the sense of movement. It introduced him to the possibilities of animation, something which still fascinates him today. He continues to work in this medium, using digital animation to make his lines talk.
Having made his lines come alive, Tilak was determined to do the same for his tapestries. Threads in Voyage (2010) is an animated film based on his last tapestry exhibition. Deconstructing the forms of his woven tapestries, Tilak plays with the threads to the sound of acid jazz: weaving the geometric forms into an acrobatic display.
Wire provided Tilak with another medium for making his lines come alive, giving them living form in sculpture. He now had the freedom to create a shape of any size. Stretching from floor to ceiling, all his sculptures are larger than life. There is also the play of shadow, which gave a totally different dimension to his lines.
Made out of brass wire, Tilak’s Mythical Garuda Bird (2016) is inspired by the peacock. A line drawing as a three-dimensional sculpture, the Garuda Bird is a solid form made of lines. A mass of curving shapes picked out in brass, the wire accentuates form of the lines.
Only the head is solid. At night, when the shadows fall, the bird comes alive, the wire gleaming as it glows with inner life. As the sun begins to sink, Tilak nods towards the Garuda with a smile, “See, she’s resting now.”
Like the modernists of the 20th century, Tilak does not seek for accurate representation. Believing that it was no longer important to represent what people saw, he too searches for a reality behind realism. In this spirit he is constantly seeking, experimenting and discovering for himself. Breaking down the distinctions between art and everyday life, Tilak’s drawings reinterpret Sri Lankan life in a new vein, subjecting it to a very different form of scrutiny. Elongating, extending, seeking and shaping, his lines take on a life and a rhythm of their own.
The result is startling and subversive, satirical and sometimes surreal.