Sri Lankan artist Priyantha Udagedara’s solo art show invites us to confront the disconnect between his country’s idyllic perception and its current precarity with a hope for the future looking at the 'Ramayana'
At the ongoing solo art exhibition of Sri Lankan artist Priyantha Udagedara at the gallery Exhibit 320, an exuberantly painted canvas of flora, fauna and mythical characters from the Ramayana, with Ram and Sita looking at each other behind a curtain of plants catches the eye. The exuberant canvas is, however, enclosed by barbed wires. It produces a sense of disconnect and it is by design. Further inside the exhibition, a mixed media painting lifts the mood with mythical creatures from the epic. In it, is a soaring Jatayu; a jungle is inhabited by parrots, swans, and monkeys and Hanuman is climbing a boulder; the artwork is brightly hued in red, ochre, green and yellow — when it is again held captive by barbed wire, pushing one to ponder deeply on the contrast between beauty and a sense of terror.
Weathering Waves, features 25 mixed media artworks. They throw light on India and Sri Lanka ties from the lens of their shared past rooted in the myth of the Ramayana to a present-day Lanka mired in socio, political and economic unrest, and facing the harmful impacts of industrial development on its natural and cultural heritage, indicated by the use of barbed wires. “The Weathering Waves show is different because it is a new step in looking at mythology and epics from South Asia as inspiration for a body of work. I’m hoping I can do more of it,” says Udagedara.
September 23, 2024
