Colombo Art Biennale (3) Imagining Peace a review

Talking to Anuradha Henakaarachchi about his work "The Death of the Twins", I was briefly transported back to the days I was still a mere journalist. Roaming the remote jungles of this world to talk to people who had been waging a war their whole lives, I often found they had nothing to say about it. That is: nothing meaningful.



Anuradha's photo installation "Death of the Twins" grabbed me for its effective simplicity. The image of the New York twin towers, burnt onto everyone's retina, was recreated by the artists with the use of straw mats and a toy airplane.
AH is a sculptor, so he first constructed the towers out of mats, then photographed them from a low angle, against a blue sky, let a toy plane enter the frame, hit the towers and burn them down.
I thought I could easily read his message as follows: The attack on the twin towers shocked the West, seeing itself no longer as the aggressor but as the aggressed. However, for many decades numerous countries and cultures had their 'straw mats' attacked by Western powers. These attacks were equally devastating, just less media coverage.
The straw mat as a metaphor for all non-western countries is a powerful one. Not in the least because the straw mat is a damn nice and useful household gadget. And just like the cultures it is generated by, seriously undervalued. But alas! no such thing was part of the artists analysis. Speaking trough a translator, AH said he just wanted to create the world event as part of his own experience. He had not been there, not on the plane and not in the towers. By reconstructing the event -during an Art Camp mind you, so plenty of guidance on hand to help the struggling artist along- he recreated the experience for himself.
Okay....there must be something missing, either in translation or in my comprehension, but I felt a pang of disappointment at this explanation.

AH is a member of the loosely fitted artist group Colombo Artist. Overall they had a good exhibition, with a number of interesting entries by Amarajeewa and Kingsley Gunatilleke, whose book project will feature in a separate blogpost.

Colombo Art Biennale (2) Imagining Peace a review

While well organised and a memorable event, it is kOOii's impression that the CAB missed out on the opportunity to show the Colombo public anything new. All the artists represented at the show have been frequent exhibitors at the local gallery scene, and most of their work did not really deviate from anything we have seen them do before. Cora de Lang, Sanjeewa Kumara, Kingsley Gunatilleke, Chandragupta Thenuwara, Anoma Wijewardena, Saskia Pringiers and Druvinka - a list of names that anyone remotely interested in local art would ratlle off without thinking and anyone who has ever stumbled on an art show on their way to eat, drink and shop would have seen at least once.

What was definitely missing were the start-ups, the young (or old) not so known names and talents and the individuals which have not been associating with the three main collectives: Theertha, VAFA and Colombo Artists. kOOii considers this a missed opportunity.

So, working with the good old crowd, the theme these artist had to follow - Imagining Peace- proved a label that was easily slapped on work that was already in existence. I think that -with the exception of Druvinka and the Kumari's (short for : Sanjeewa Kumara and Sujeewa Kumari) - the state of turmoil in this country has been the theme of any self respected artist for so many years. Case in point is Vafa's front man Chandragupta Thenuwara: his work has always been on the edge of controversial in the way it has addressed the state of conflict in Sri Lanka.


Vafa Pavillion: you are either for, or against us!

The VAFA pavillion was again the most impressive. A huge wall divided the space in two telling the audience that You are either for us or against us. There is no way you can be one! A not so hidden criticism of the policies regarding minorities in the country now the war has been declared WON. The wall was constructed by individual artists; each explaining in their own way how this wall was being kept erect. kOOii's favorite wall part was by Anusha Gajaweera, who's flock of crows dressed up like doves, came flying out of newspapers, wearing neckties to symbolize the hypocrisie of male political power (words not by artist).

Anusha's wall at the Vafa Pavillion

You can call me a simpleton, but I really, really liked it. It has humor and provided a good balance for the bleak wall of cruelty put up by Thenuwara which was as timely as it was daring.


Channel 4 look alike on Thenuwara's wall

Sanjeewani in front of her lace wall

Colombo Art Biennale (1) Imagining Peace

The past weekend saw large crowds gather around the old warehouses in Park Street to visit the first ever Colombo Art Biennale. (technically this is not correct: the Sri Lanka Arts Council held an Art Biennale at the National Gallery 2 years ago but I guess that event is easily overlooked for its lack of pr etc.)

This time PR was definitely not lacking, and hurray!!!! for all organizers and sponsors who made this event happen. It was immensely enjoyable, the weather was divine and the number of parties just right (all the time, that is!)


Friday night cocktails


Colombo's trendy diplomatic corps

Jagath Weerasinghe of Theertha artists collective hoping to impress the Aussie HC

The Biennale venue was divided into 6 pavilions, distributed among the city's main commercial galleries (Barefoot & Saskia Fernando), and the best know artist collectives (Theertha, VAFA and Colombo Artists) while Sri Lankan art icon Anup Vega had his own space.
For a kOOii review of the art event click here


Biennale venue

Prageeth Manohansa's dancefloor


Anuraddha's straw mat 9/11

Colombo Artists Pavillion

Erasing Camouflage

For a good many years Chandragupta Thenuwara was entirely known for his "barrelism", a term which derived from the period in which he turned the roadblocks of this besieged country into works of art. The camouflaged oil drums, after being dragged into the white cube, became a synonym for his personal statement about Sri Lanka's civil war, in particular the loss of respect for the individual, and of civility.
Each year his one man shows - always in the month of July in the non profit Lionel Wendt Gallery in Colombo- were continuations on the subject matter. After the barrels came the more sophisticated road barriers and the camouflage theme remained. Critics and supporters were wondering where it would go next and if in any case Thenuwara had not cornered himself too much with his signature topic?
His latest show "Erasing Camouflage: Post-Barrelism" has been helped along by recent political developments in Sri Lanka. In May this year the 30-year war on the Tamil Tigers was officially declared "over". As Thenuwara says in his statement - at least some aspects of the war that terrorized our society and disrupted our lives, have now come to an end. But that is by no means to say the peace has been won. Terror and displacement are not at an end and have many different faces.

The works in this exhibition are meant as an open invitation to consider de-militarization of society. The question the artist here is posing is: if the face of war is camouflage, what should then be the face of peace?
Thenuwara tells us that the time has come to take away all signs of camouflage, and not allow for these to be replaced by other combat symbols such as the singular ethnic & religious red-yellow-blue flag.
The show consists of a series of canvasses which evolve from traditional green-yellow(military) towards the yellow, blue & red (Singhalese flag) and slowly turning into white (Buddhism). The all white canvas with the all white Singhala inscription reads: "There is no such thing as colour now. There is only white or black".
The pile of sand which looks like an open mass grave, and the white pillars of a shot-to-pieces home, speak for themselves or rather for "Un commemorable Memories". The artists would like to impress on us that there can't be heroism in war. There can only be heroism in peace.

In the current political climate, the warning the artist sends us is of a courageous nature. In the absence of an internationally agreed definition of terrorism I always like to quote Hannah Arendt: Totalitarianism is the iron band of terror which destroys the plurality of men and makes out of many the One who unfailingly will act as though he himself were part of the course of history or nature.
Thenuwara here has made himself One out of Many for which I congratulate and applaud him.

Mahen Perera's Canvas Attack

This title does not very accurately reflect the work of Mahen Perera, but I thought it would get you reading. Please continue:
Attacking a canvas is what Sri Lankan artist Mahen actually does, but he does it with passion and devotion, not in any blind rage.
Perera graduated from Singapore's La Salle, which already sets him apart from most of his contemporaries who -- flogging themselves through four years of domestic institutional drudgery-- lack the exposure and inspiration an open art environment brings, and as a result produce limittless amounts of blackened human shapes on oversized canvasses.
Perera is a researcher. He looks for what is real in his paintings. The pretty and decorative realistic pictures he originally painted, had to go. By scrubbing clean his canvasses, erasing the unwanted prettyness, he stumbled upon a real emotion. His canvasses became sculptures, intense and beautiful and ....disturbing.
Time Lost & Found is the title of this delightful exhibition.Please do yourself a favor and go and see his work at Barefoot.

here is a peek
read more about Mahen Perera here and here, or here

Conversations 2 -Berengere Brooks

As far as women are concerned, having children might be one of life's most transitional times, changing the way we feel about others and about ourselves. Berengere Brooks has captured the emotions of women surrounding motherhood in her installation "Conversations" of which a preview was held at the kOOii Art Space last Sunday (see earlier entry).
In the video "Women" she shows the viewer about the seemingly conflicting but intrinsically contemporary female emotions of wanting or having children.
In "Mothers " she allows mothers of young daughters to reflect on their own mothers. Juxtaposed, these two short videos leave the viewer with sense of humanity that must be empowering to many.
Brooks is not the first artist to explore motherhood and womanhood from these angles, and won't be the last. Her approach however validates peoples natural ability for love and exalts common feelings as part of the turmoil which surrounds our lives and relationships.

Some images of the preview at kOOii:


My Great Love: Stereophonic Installation 1"29" Women talking about their big love, how much they can love someone and talk about moments of intimacy.

Paintings in acrylic on brown paper
The Origin of The World Photograph 24 x 38 inch
A direct reference to the famous Courbet painting "the Origin of the World" (1866). Where does the world start? Where do we come from? Do we become women by giving birth? What happens if it is not a natural birth? Have we failed in any way? What about women who choose not to give birth naturally?

6 Months in the Office -photographic installation
My first day in the office...how was it? How do each of us mark our territory in a working space? And where are the human beings? Can we still keep our individuality in there?



for a review of the preview in The Bottom Line newspaper click here

“Conversations” - Preview of work by Berengere Brooks

French artist, theatre - and fashion designer Berengere Brooks, is returning to conceptual work with new work in the exhibition “Conversations”. Brooks is exploring motherhood, women-hood, but also our working spaces, through the use of different media such as video, photography, installation and painting.

Berengere Brooks’ background in theatre design has almost certainly influenced her choice of working with installations, where space, props sounds or lighting all become part of the experience.

The 3-dimensional component of installation art allows the viewer to become an active part of the artwork by simply walking into the space or - as it is the case with one of her latest works- by sitting down in a comfortable armchair.

Brooks creates her videos using bits of interviews she held with various women she has met – and assembled these bits as one would cut and paste pieces of paper to make a more traditional collage.

Talking to women about certain issues like motherhood and relationships with other women in their lives, has also led her to investigate her own behaviour and her everyday life. Women and gender issues have always been her predominant subject, and she has expanded the focus to include issues relating to children,siblings and mothers.

By making herself a character of her own fiction she follows in the footsteps of French contemporary female artists Sophie Calle and Annette Messager.

The themes of individuality and inability to communicate emerge from these last works as a struggle that each of us has to face, both in our work and our family environment.

Without giving us answers, Berengere Brooks makes us look closely and from a different angle at our own relationships with our immediate kith and kin. Is that not the role of any artist?

kOOii Art Space presents an exclusive preview of her work on Sunday 7 June. from 10 am-6 pm