The marriage of colours and reactions
An everyday face brought to life
Evocative faces stare back at us in Jayantha Silva’s living room. His walls are filled with emotions – on one side a woman selling her vegetables at the Mount Lavinia pola (market) dressed in a simple jacket adorned with small yellow, pink and green flowers adding variations of tones and atmosphere to the portrait. Close by, her crotchety looking husband, his face twisted into a scowl is etched on to another canvas – a marriage of colours and reactions.
Looking closer, you can see how the artist captures the identities and striking features of his subjects. From the half-moon shaped circles darkened with age and maturity under the eyes of one face to the soulful innocence that bursts out of a child’s smile in another canvas.
Jayantha’s many faces will make an appearance at the 14th edition of his solo exhibition “Expression” on May 6 and 7 at the Lionel Wendt, Colombo. The preview of the exhibition will be held on May 5 at 6.30 pm.
Jayantha always had a flair for art, and winning awards and titles at a young age, made him realise that art was part of his DNA. He recalls his Montessori report card where his teacher had commented “Excellent” for art and also added – “It’s a pity that he doesn’t draw on paper”. Jayantha’s adventurous nature led him to ‘draw’ on floors and walls, and if his work still lives on in the Bambalapitiya flats, what you may see as child’s play was the work of virtuosity in the making.
“I was quite a character back then,” Jayantha grins. “At 10 years old I drew my first nude” – a bit unusual for a child to draw something so explicit. He says he envisioned what the nude figure would look like, startling others with its accuracy and proving that his art was as mature as it could be at the tender age of 10.
A self-taught artist, his style he adds is “unorthodox”. “You are never born an artist,” Jayantha muses. “Art for me is a tremendous amount of confidence in yourself.”
However, not seeing a future in making a living from his talents, after school Jayantha moved on to advertising and commercial art.
Fast forward to 20 years later. Painting every weekend from 2002 onwards he was satisfied enough to hold his first exhibition in 2003. Jayantha has come a long way since then ending his hiatus. “The artist in me decided to stick on,” Jayantha smiles.
The first picture that helped Jayantha toward his path of success was “Rwanda” a painting that depicts the plight of its people.
What’s extraordinary about Jayantha’s story is how he reawakened that confidence in himself. Invited by the Lighthouse Hotel in Galle to hold an exhibition at the hotel, Jayantha was awarded a prestigious commission by the Tea Board to paint a 6’x11’ “Reception back” to be gifted to the Airport and Aviation office in Katunayake. A pivotal moment in Jayantha’s life, he relates how he overcame an “artist block” ultimately boosting his confidence up with verbal encouragement and inner peace.
“I’m a more Western artist” Jayantha states reflecting on how the majority of his work is influenced by the movies, theatre, songs and his daily observations. Everyday faces, striking features and the expressions of his subjects imprint in the painter’s mind, his photographic memory greatly coming into use here.
Having presented his work in Australia, India and Sri Lanka this will be his 14th annual exhibition – his work will showcase some of his portraits of figurative art done in acrylic, pastel colours and charcoal.
His work for the exhibition series is aimed at capturing unique expressions and features of his subjects, most portraits depicting personalities shining through. His realistic focus coupled with his imaginative expression allows him to explore a range of emotions, each painting holding a sentimental value to him. One of his standout collections is the portraits under the theme “Sri Lankan Smiles” which Jayantha states “is the unique quality of our country that I tried to capture”.
The artist at work. Pix by Athula Devapriya