A dream come true to the local contemporary art collector, Kumar Ratnayake has a long journey ahead of him if he has set his sight at Christie’s.
He needs the correct art exposure to the citadels on international art vendors but it is an area that
Sri Lanka has not pursued. Sad, as it sounds as compared to the Indian painter whose selected art fetches in the regions of million dollars per piece.
Gwen Herat
How does he do it? One has only to watch him at work; the splashing of colour on his palette and canvas would stop anyone on the track. Wandering through his gallery at Pasyala, I was trapped in a haze from which I could not extricate myself; the arabesque of colours… bold and beautiful was limitless.
They are drops of brilliance gathered from the mysteries of the deep ocean, blues of the surface ranging from aqua to turquoise, the red hot drippings of the scorching sun, all the sizzling greens of the burgeon, sulphur from the Buddha’s robes, as well as the eerie blacks and greys along with the royal purple, etc. Ratnayake plays with these colours, boldly mixing them and putting into effect what’s bursting in his mind.
A dream come true to the local contemporary art collector, Kumar Ratnayake has a long journey ahead of him if he has set his sight at Christie’s.
He needs the correct art exposure to the citadels on international art vendors but it is an area that Sri Lanka has not pursued. Sad, as it sounds as compared to the Indi
an painter whose selected art fetches in the regions of million dollars per piece. Our homegrown painters are waiting on the fence and remain with their dreams shattered.
However, the globe-trotting Ratnayake has exhibited and sold his works from Maldives across to Philippines, England, Germany, Sweden, Austria and the Netherlands.
I thought that was great for someone coming from a rural background because he won high praise in the media of these countries. His paintings are hung in centres around the world while he was commissioned to hold an exhibition in Bangladesh.
His works are contemporary but to sacrifice an imprecise description of his paintings that are to be exhibited this month is not fair because Karunaratne is a new concept painter rearing to stamp his signature.
They are not lyrical and after all, how can a contemporary painter go literati because of the complexity of the subjects he paints. His is a doctrine and a technique with which he paints. He admits that he is vastly influenced from the environment he comes from. Essentially modern but vague at times but the significance of his passion seep through his brush-strokes.
He is a ‘green’ artist in the sense that green is his dominant colour which subconsciously evolves his green pastures of his home town in Pasyala. And Ratnayake possesses the ravings of a man of impatience which he incorporates into his themes which I too found a little difficult to unravel..
As I said before, his works are a haze of magnificent colours so extraordinary and genuine. I was highly moved by one of his exhibits still untitled and painted in black and grey with a dash of silver.
Another going on display is the spirit of the jungle which Ratnayake claims as the best he has done so far. It is indeed a unique painting with the spirit as the guardian of the jungle. It has character and I would term it as a near-colossus for any art collector.
Fire and water is yet another rendezvous with life which are the main components for human survival as well as for destruction. It reminds me of bush fire and tsunami upheaval and as one keeps looking at it, the truth comes home, eerie and frightening.
There is something positively like a common aim or perhaps inspiration that drives painters like Kumar Ratnayake to do the impossible with the brush. The sensation with which he has followed his doctrine, singles him out among many of his calibre. From his childhood the day he picked his easel, Kumar Ratnayake has not looked back and he has such a rosy future if he strives still harder.
For the art collector / critic / viewer / reviewer, there is a spectacular display when he mounts his paintings at the Lionel Wendt on March 28, 29 and 30.
