Anupa paints tales untold
Painter and teacher Anupa Perera’s solo exhibition of oil paintings, ‘Stain of Tales Untold’ (Nokiyu Kathawaka Pellam), will be held from April 1 to 3 at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery.
A student of Maliyadeva College Kurunegala, Anupa was graduated from the University of Visual and performing arts in Colombo in 2014.
Specialised on oil painting with realistic style Anupa had been influenced by the oil paintings done by A. C. G. S. Samarasekaraand David Painter.
For Anupa painting is a meditation which requires a long hours and many days of work. “Sometimes it takes a month for me to do a one painting. I want to take time and do a proper job that satisfies me,” Anupa said. The exhibition had been planning for more than six years.
At the time I started doing oil painting it was not a popular genre and there were only a few artists who were doing oil paintings. But now it has changed. I was attracted to do oil painting with realistic art and I am sure this will generate interest among the younger generation.
Once completed in Colombo, Anupa plans to take the exhibition to outstation as there are hardly any major painting exhibitions in the outstation. “We should create opportunities for the people in the outstation and specially art student to experience exhibitions,” Anupa who now settled in Anuradhapura said.
Having graduated Anupa received a teaching appointment at Thakshila Maha Vidyala in Mahavilachchiya in 2011. Initially Anupa was bored and felt lonely in the rural setting. He determined to leave Anuradhapura as soon as possible. But teaching and interest shown by his pupils attracted him to continue in the same school for last 11 years. The teacher and the painter in Anupa has found more solace in the rural and less competitive Anuradhapura than his own hometown in Kurunegala or Colombo where he spent nearly eight years during his higher studies. Also he has realised that he could be a service and be a motivation to many of his students in the area.
“ I find great talents in this rural background and I give them opportunities by organizing students’ exhibitions at the school,” Anupa said.
Most of Anupa’s students are from farming families in the area and hardly get exposure to painting exhibitions in Colombo. Besides most of them are undergoing financial hardships too. However Anupa has taken them to Kalapola in Colombo so that they would be encouraged and inspired.
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