Arts
Rock artist in search of perfect balance
How many of you have visited rivers or streams with banks of dispersed stones and rocks of different shapes and sizes? Have you ever tried to balance one rock on top of another? Piling rocks on top of each other might be a difficult task for someone who tries it for the first time. The stones may keep on falling and will have to be piled up all over again. Meet someone who possesses true interest and patience in the art of rock stacking and who creates incredible installations of gravity defying stone balancing works.
Creating art works in a river situated in Deraniyagala, 50km away from Colombo
Stone balancing is an art, in which rocks are stacked one on top of another to create different structures. The only secret involved is discovering each rock’s centre of gravity in relation to its support points which makes a ‘tripod’ of balance for the rock to stand upright.
Madusanka Dimal, 29, is a Sri Lankan artist who turns rocks into art forms. Having graduated from the University of Visual and Performing Arts in 2014, he majored in sculpture and worked on projects in relation to abstract art in his third and fourth years at the university.
“When I feel the balancing point of each rock I’m handling, I take my hands away from the stack. That is a moment of wonder which I cannot express in words,” Madusanka says.
His first attempts at rock balancing started when he was on trips with friends two years ago. Since then whenever Madusanka was out travelling he built installations with rocks and stones. He has made these in almost 30 locations around the country and makes 15 to 20 installations at a time.
“Whenever I face a problem, I go to a nearby stream and build stone stacks which makes me feel relaxed and relieved,” Madusanka adds. “I don’t do rock balancing with any kind of rock. I look for the rocks and stones with different shapes which could be balanced on top of another. Sometimes I have had to travel to distant locations in search of rocks and stones which are of suitable shape to be balanced.”
A sculptor and wedding decorator, he does not make a living out of this but does it for his personal satisfaction.
It takes some time to discover the exact balancing point of the rocks, he admits. “At that moment of discovery, I become so focused on keeping the rocks balanced that I get detached from the outside world. It is a moment of finding peace within me,” Madusanka says.
Stones and rocks washed downstream have a certain amount of balance, he feels. He also uses solid artificial objects floating in rivers to make the stacks. “When I complete my installations, I clean the surroundings and collect the inorganic waste and take it away with me,” he says.
These days people do not care for the environment, though it is our duty to protect it, he says. “In my opinion people should look at the environment with a broader perspective. When people see my creations on riverbanks, I hope that they will make them realise the beauty and wonder of nature,” he says.
