Arts
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tragedy and a celebration 'Beyond Life' is an open book. With disarming candour it lays bare an incredibly painful tragedy, but the book is, nevertheless, a celebration of a remarkable personality. It is a rare privilege to see the life of one so young and so full of promise through the eyes of his mother. Charmaine Mendis gives us this opportunity with her tribute to Sanjiv whose life extended briefly from 1971 to 1991. He was an exceptional artist. That Charmaine should have chosen to publish this book is, in itself, a decision that required great courage. She had to have the conviction that what she treasures and what she wishes to share with others was objectively good and worthwhile. It is her particular achievement that she maintains a sense of detachment despite the closeness and intimacy of her involvement with her son. It is made all the more poignant because of those very ties that bind mother and child together, the excellence of her son's work and the brevity of his life. We need, therefore, to approach the work of Sanjiv Mendis with the same degree of detachment. If that is at all possible. We must pay less attention to the tragedy and consider rather the enduring qualities of Sanjiv's achievement as an artist who grows in stature from the far-from-tentative beginnings at the age of two and a half years. The paintings and drawings reproduced in 'Beyond Life' form a retrospective collection and, as deserving of its cause, is an opulent production laid out in a horizontal (landscape) format. It measures 330mm x 250mm, is bound in hard covers and runs into 176 pages, nearly all of them in full colour. Sanjiv's works while they are at times simple and guileless expressions, at others they present a grave and thoughtful perspective. In his latter years, he demonstrated a considerable draughtsmanship, in my view an essential skill - the stock-in-trade, indeed, of the artist-be it ever so fundamental as the ability to draw a circle and a straight line. That Sanjiv's draughtsmanship reached far beyond this, of course, is what makes him all the more admirable. Sanjiv was very much the creature of his times. He shared with others of his own vintage, a fascination for the instruments of war and the beckoning of Outer Space which inevitably appears to mesmerise the young. It is a condition with which the art teacher has to contend (I endorse Latifa Ismail's disclaimer to being a "teacher" but of being, rather, a guide). Out of this early interest developed a highly organised sense of balance and proportion. Sanjiv's compositions are at once vivid and emotive in the use of colour. That he was able to obtain these results come from the encouragement he received from an early age. With that must surely go the fact that materials were readily made available to him. At five years of age he was using oil colours on board; at six, he was painting in oils on canvas. It is quite evident from the work reproduced in 'Beyond Life' that this was an advantage Sanjiv enjoyed and exploited with gusto. Sanjiv's mother, Charmaine, has to accept the credit for this because it was she who recognised early Sanjiv's particular talent and his seemingly inexhaustible drive. He worked, she says, with unabated vigour most of the time, withdrawing occasionally, I would imagine, only to re-evaluate the success and impact of what he had done. Sanjiv enjoyed, as he matured in his craft, the privilege of a number of solo exhibitions, opportunities which presented him as a consummate artist with a personal view of his world. He seems to have been both critical and appreciative of that world. It is this constant self-appraisal that gives his painting a mature edge. He had ten exhibitions, several in Sri Lanka and others overseas, in Manila, Singapore, Washington, Brussels and The Hague. They received much critical applause, a Belgian writer lavishing a lovely epithet upon Sanjiv: He was described as "the little Mozart of Sri Lanka." 'Beyond Life' has been a decidedly delicate odyssey, suffused with more than a passing glimpse of a prodigious young life. This is, indeed, a magnificent tribute. Breaking
ground with harmonious sounds This was their first concert and they must have been encouraged by the enthusiastic response of the audience. David Ratnanayagam, the conductor of the choir, held the performers together and the choir responded to his directing. It was clear that preparation had been thorough and that each member of the choir made a strong contribution. It was inevitable that, with such a new venture, the signs of youth would be evident at times: a tendency seen in the uncertain entries in the contrapuntal music. This will improve as conductor and choir continue to work together and leadership and individual confidence grow. Highlights of the concert included a performance of the complete 'Little Organ Mass' of Haydn, interspersed with motets. The Mass sounded particularly attractive. It was performed by the orchestra, organ and soprano soloist from the choir Anagi Perera, whose sweet and polished sound rose effortlessly over the beautiful accompaniment in the Benedictus. The choir was at its best in the accompanied four-part harmony, of which Gardiner's 'Evening Hymn', with its rich Edwardian harmony and large dynamic range, was a fine example. The two twentieth-century anthems using words from psalms of praise, John Rutter's 'O clap your hands' and William Matthia's 'Let the people praise Thee, O God', were a good choice, enjoyed by choir and audience alike. Settings of 'Haec Dies' (William Byrd), 'Os Justi' (Anton Bruckner), 'Abendlied' (Rheinberger) and 'Hail, Gladdening Light' (Charles Wood), together with Monteverdi's 'Cantate Domino' and Handel's anthem 'O praise the Lord with one consent', completed the programme. The orchestra was led by Manojie Gunasekera, and the organist was Denham Pereira. G.S. Guyathrie
to give us some old-time favourites The musical evening is in aid of a Genito Urinary/Dialysis Unit for the Kurunegala General Hospital. Guyathrie says on the cover of her CD, "A performer makes contact with a listener in various ways. There is nothing more rewarding and satisfying than the feeling you have when you know that your listeners are getting something out of your renditions. It is a form of communication. A way of reaching out to people. “No matter how much one loves or wants to sing and perform, without anybody to communicate it to, or 'give' to, it would be a non-event. Music can bring people out of their worst fears and take them to a 'better world'. If I can stir the hearts of the listeners and make them feel good in some ways, then I think I may be on my way to fulfilling my aspirations as a singer." She will be singing popular old-time favourites such as: Because, Love is a many splendoured thing, Spanish eyes, No matter what, One day at a time, When I grow to old to dream etc. Tickets are availabe at the Bishop's College Auditorium. ‘Let's
see who's up there’ Included among the famous faces are personalities well-known in the cultural, social, media and business communities. Several paintings of another of his pet topics will also be seen-landscapes and Sri Lankan scenes. Tissa Hewavitarne has spent many years abroad and in fact held nine exhibitions away from Sri Lanka, in Germany and the Gulf countries. Watercolours are his medium of choice. Tissa's exhibition is on today, Monday and Tuesday at the Lionel Wendt Gallery and is sponsored by NDB Housing Bank. Power
of sensitivity and simplicity Mark Amerasinghe's monodrama where he changed his tone of voice to become the man of God, his wife, his son, his protégé Gertrude and even Mademoiselle Louise's gardener, held his audience spellbound for over an hour on Tuesday, November 23, at the auditorium of the Alliance Francaise de Colombo. In today's theatre world where props, costumes, sets and stage effects play such an important role, it was a lesson to the spectators of what drama really is. Just one old man in the cassock of a Christian pastor, a table, a chair and a journal. Yet such is the power of human interaction that a truly dramatic story set in the theatre of the human mind can convey and enthrall a hall-full of foreigners and locals who felt that even the occasional soft voice coming from the cafe was a disturbance to the unfolding drama. Mark Amerasinghe, the seasoned actor, did full justice to the different themes presented in the story. It is so easy to dismiss a theme by simply calling it "adultery" but the actor took us right inside the mind of the pastor from his first meeting with the blind girl. He brought us up short to reality when he acted out his indignant wife's so-called "normal" reaction when he took the waif home. So many of us live on the surface and casually talk of issues especially when a crime takes place. Funerals, murders, suicides are all occasions about which people start talking quietly dismissing the disturbing issue from the mind by placing it in a convenient category, like Mademoiselle Louise's explanation that Gertrude was picking forget-me-nots by the river when she ''fell in". Hush, why breathe of attempted suicide when it is such an uncomfortable idea? The pastor's personal dilemma as a man of God yet subject to all the desires of the flesh was sensitively portrayed without any of the modern crude depiction of the act of sex through two bodies touching. "Our lips met" and the lights went off and it was left to the audience to imagine the situation. Besides, when making love is the culmination of a period of time when feelings are explored and shared, it is so much more than just a one-night stand. It was truly "Forbidden Fruit" for the married man of God and the end of the play may be construed as divine retribution. But as usual, there are no easy answers at the end of Mark Amerasinghe's dramatic presentations and one goes home wondering about God and man's role and human weakness both in society and in the microcosm of the family unit. Variety
of Vietnam Today however, Vietnam is buzzing as an investors' paradise and Vietnamese art is highly sought after by reputed galleries in the USA, Europe, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. This exhibition and sale of modern Vietnamese paintings comprises a selection of oil on canvas paintings from the foremost schools of thought in Vietnamese art depicting a variety of universal themes with a few being typically Vietnamese. There are also some paintings with a splash of lacquer for which the Vietnamese are renowned. The effect is a fusion of metals with the most popular being gold and silver. In this collection, splashes of lacquer are blended into the oil paintings creating an unusual and curious mix of colour and light. What is distinct about modern Vietnamese art is the brightness and light play the artist use in their work. These paintings have been hand picked by a Sri Lankan couple who were based in Hanoi, Vietnam for the past three years. They were fascinated by the variety, colour and detail used by the many artists they got to know during their stay and at the end of their term decided to bring down a collection of paintings from a very select group of artists to be exhibited and sold in Sri Lanka. The exhibition and sale of modern Vietnamese art will be held at the Harold Pieris Gallery of the Lionel Wendt, on December 8 and 9 from 10.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
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