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Arts

Dayanthi’s strokes of nature
When Dayanthi Athulathmudali holds her maiden art exhibition on October 19 and 20 she will be displaying her talents and skills cultivated and nurtured over a period of time. Dayanthi's creativity first became apparent in the classroom at Ladies' College where she had her secondary education. She received her first formal guidance in art, as a youngster under Cora Abraham. A keen nature lover, Dayanthi's interest in art was inspired by her interest in nature itself. This is evident from her paintings, which focus on objects from nature.

She had ample opportunity to absorb the best of nature during the many family outings to all parts of the country. In later life, she supplemented her interest with knowledge through reading on art and visiting museums and art galleries. She remembers being particularly fascinated by the ancient Chinese free-hand painting techniques.

Dayanthi's early induction to painting was developed further when she worked with the well known Ena de Silva, from Matale, for many years. When Dayanthi moved with her family to Singapore in 1997, she had the opportunity to learn under some of the finest in the field. She studied water colours under Noni Kaur, lecturer at Lasalle and Chinese brush paintings under Ang Chye Chi. She is currently under the direction of Tan Khim Ser, president of the Life Art Society in Singapore.

Dayanthi's art displays a contemporary mix of water colour and Chinese brush painting. The result is strikingly novel. Joining Dayanthi in her maiden exhibition "Different Strokes" is Avantha Tennekoon with his sketches of elephants. Done in charcoal, Avantha has, over the past two years developed a unique style of portraying this majestic animal 'up close'.

He held his first joint exhibition 17 years ago, at the age of 9, with five other children from his art school. The exhibition will be open to the public on October 19 and 20, at the Lionel Wendt Gallery.

Simple, soothing and striking
By Ishani Ranasinghe
With a few strokes of his pen and a touch of paint here and there, he creates pictures that are simple yet striking. Explaining his paintings Ruwan Tharaswin says, "When I paint I always think about where the person who is buying my work will put it up." He goes on to explain that usually a home has curtains, dark glass windows and that many people use a light bulb with low wattage. Therefore, the house has a darkened effect and thus when a lot of colour is used in a painting, the true nature of the painting is not seen.

"This is also why I don't really like to use dark colours," he says adding that he feels light colours help to soothe the mind. Tharaswin adds that he usually paints at night under a CFL light. "I use colours that are needed for that type of light because the paintings are meant for indoors."

Using the medium of watercolours, he adds colour for about seventy-five percent of his drawings the rest being left white. "I only paint the focus points in my sketches," he explains.

Even though at first glance his paintings look simple he confides that usually it takes him a few days to complete them. "First I make a few rough copies before I do the final piece." Being the perfectionist he is, he adds that until everything is perfect he keeps working on it. "For me every little detail counts."

Painting from his young days Tharaswin never had a formal education in art, but still managed to win many awards for his work. "I contributed to newspapers from the time I was in school," he says adding that he believes this helped improve his skills. Having had two exhibitions in the past he is now ready to display a new collection.

"Sarala Rekha” (Fine Line) an exhibition displaying 60 of his paintings will be held from October 22 - 25 at the Alliance Francaise de Colombo from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Now Tommiya takes on role of 007
By Esther Williams
'Madai Tommiya 007 Vuna' is Indu Dharmasena's latest production that will go on the boards at the Lionel Wendt from the October 22 - 24. Presented by the old boys of S. Thomas College, Mount Lavinia, Class of '87, the proceeds are for their eCampus project.

"I had no intention of making it a series. It just so happened that the Tommiya character became popular," says Indu of the well-loved character, who has entertained theatre-goers since the late 80s. In the subsequent sequels Tommiya goes places and creates comical situations just by being himself. In this the ninth in the series, Tommiya plays Thomas Bond, malli (younger brother) of James Bond.

Those who have watched other Tommiya plays would remember Andana, the hairdresser cum designer who had kept Tommiya under her wing in Colombo.

Andana teams up with wealthy Bianca Lokupahana to produce a play called The Angels of Paradise. Strange things happen during rehearsals. Items including mobile phones, makeup, cash and soon even jewellery items begin to disappear. Anonymous letters from a caring friend intent on sabotaging the show compound the problem. Inspector Colombagay is hired to solve the problem while Tommiya assumes the role of Thomas Bond, eventually unravelling the mystery in his own idiotic way.

Act II of the play switches from scenes backstage where Tommiya takes his role of caretaker of the bags seriously to the actual show that has dance sequences from the musical Chicago. The 'Cell block Tango' and 'All that Jazz' will be something to watch out for.

Members of the cast include Abbasali Rozais, Sanjana Selvaraja, Gehan Cooray, Dayan Dias, George Cooke, Michelle Herft, Asela Dassanayaka, Shohan Chandiram, Mal de Silva and Indu himself as Tommiya.

Dushy and Ananda to première Brahms Concerto
Three works will be premièred at the concerts of the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka in Colombo on Saturday October 30, and Kandy on Sunday 31, directed by British conductor and composer Gregory Rose. The Brahms 'Double' Concerto for Violin and Cello and Glazunov's 1st Symphony will be played for the first time in Sri Lanka, and Rose's overture 'Thambapani' will receive its world première.

Ananda Dabare, leader of the Orchestra, and Dushy Perera, its principal cellist, have appeared as soloists on many occasions before. Ananda's performances have included the Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky violin concertos, and Dushy's the much-loved Dvorak and Elgar cello concertos. The splendid 'Double' Concerto is Brahms' last orchestral work. Richly melodic, it was written in large part to reconcile Brahms with his long-time friend the great violinist Joseph Joachim, after six years' estrangement. In form it is like an unfolding conversation between three equal partners - the orchestra, the cello and the violin. Dushy describes it as "a profound, often tender work, with great depth of feeling which I could not have interpreted adequately before, without experience of life."

Gregory Rose recommended SOSL should play the 1st Symphony of Glazunov. The pupil of Balakirev and Rimsky - Korsakov, and the teacher of Prokofiev and Shostakovich, there is a revival of interest in his music. The Symphony, written when Glazunov was 16, is an approachable work of delightful freshness, combining Russian and German styles of composition.

Rose describes his Overture 'Thambapani' in the programme notes for its world première as "an attempt to paint musical moods and feelings experienced in Sri Lanka, and uses as its basis a mode influenced by Eastern music."

The Colombo concert sponsored by Energizer will be at Ladies' College Hall at 7 p.m.The tickets are available at Titus Stores, Liberty Plaza. The Kandy concert presented by The Kandy Music Society and sponsored by SLT will be at the Engineering Faculty Theatre, University of Peradeniya at 6.30 p.m. Please contact. Bridget Halpe on 081 2239113 for further details.

Bringing out the beauty with old-fashioned techniques
By Sachie Fernando
Dr. Jude Niranjith Gurusinghe, president of the Hendala Lions Club and presently working at the Health Ministry, is a self-taught artist who has experimented with various styles over the years. Dr. Jude won many prizes for art starting from his schooldays at St. Joseph's College, Colombo 10.

Inspired by his mother's watercolour paintings since he was a child he learnt the techniques especially of oil painting by reading on the subject. Dr. Jude's first solo exhibition, "The Beauty Captured Within" will be held from October 22 to 24 at the Harold Peiris gallery of the Lionel Wendt.

This exhibition is being held to raise funds for a service project on "Sight Conservation" which is to build the "Sight First" cataract surgery hospital at Hendala. This exhibition will have more than 60 oil paintings, all of them on local themes.

A great admirer of Michelangelo and artists of the Romantic Period, Dr. Jude says that today artists go in for modern themes and styles and forget the need to protect old techniques.

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