Titus’ unique art on display
Veteran artist Titus Perera will hold his next exhibition in Kandy at the E.L. Senanayake Children’s Library from January 28 -30.
Elleperumage Titus Perera hails from Kandy from an artistic family. His elder brother Dr. Stanley Perera excelled as a musician in Calcutta India. His inherent talent, ambition and discipline helped him to reach the highest qualification, a musician could obtain viz. a doctorate in music, ending up as a lecturer at Calcutta University. The musical connections were enhanced when Stanley married the only daughter of his guru Ustad Ali Akbar Khan (brother-in-law of Ravi Shankar).
Titus Perera’s younger brother Edmond migrated to the UK in the early sixties and established himself as a proprietor of a graphic designing company and Art Director in Woolwich in London.
Titus Perera too has a colourful background as a creative artist, batik designer, ballet dancer (he was a student of Sri Vasantha Kumara) make up artist and stage manager. Art was his favourite subject during his school career at St. Paul’s College Kandy and he still remembers with gratitude his art teacher Mr. Sathyanandan. After leaving school he experimented with different styles, techniques and methods in creating artwork.
He began creating designs on bamboo, old gramophone records and on plywood boards. They served as flower vases and home decor ornaments. His next experiment was as a batik artist creating vivid batik designs.
The sales centre he opened at Mulgampola in the outskirts of Kandy soon attracted tourists too but had to shut due to bigger businesses in the area.
Stepping into the mini art gallery of Titus, I was impressed by the paintings which revealed the expression of profound emotional feelings embedded in these creations. This is where his genius comes to play. Titus never uses a brush, instead all his portraits, landscapes, perspectives and sketches are depicted on glass with colour tubes – application of dots on glass, which is a time-consuming exercise.
Now in his late 70s, he is still quite active with his colour tubes and painting on glass. He is ready to teach his techniques and methods to any interested party and can be contacted on his telephone: 0777175338.
