kOOii

Dispatch from Colombo : Sea Change at the Goethe

2011-05-01T15:25:00.002+05:30

We have seen a major transformation at the Goethe Institute Colombo, ever since a new director took over.
Programming under Bjoern Ketels is imaginative, broad and and brings a much needed breath of fresh air after the stifling events offered by his predecessor, who seemed to think that what the Sri Lankan cultural scene was missing was more Buddhism.

Ketel 's programming reflects contemporary German culture, society and politics (that is what German tax payers are told Goethe is for after all). You can even tell by looking at the cool Cultural Programming booklet that the break with the past is permanent.
.
Just to name a few events:

club nights with the Gebrueder Teichmann, who on their blog admit that Ketels has the very right taste in music.

workshops on electronic music production and on film restoration & archiving (very handy in a tropical climate where everything molds in nanoseconds),

and of course most valued from the kOOii visual arts perspective is

ART NEEDS SPACE, a plan to identify alternative spaces around the city/country for artist to develop and use for specific cultural events.

Goethe invites young people -professionals and semi-professionals- for a crash course in creative curating: find a venue and conceptualize and carry out a specific, tailor made event.

Why do I think this is so great?

Well, the lack of affordable, accessible space available to artists is one of the biggest obstacles to cultural vibrancy in Colombo. (the second one being the great social divide, but more on this in a next blogpost)
Active policies by the Sri Lankan government to support the arts are absent. You need not look further than the the National Art Gallery: a badly lit crumbling colonial building with a handful of paintings randomly stuck on molding walls- and has anyone seen anything in the J.D.A. Perera gallery since its opening that was NOT arranged by foreign embassies???

Of course it does not help that many younger artists seem highly suspicious of alternative ways (read:foreign ways) and insist on protocol: printed invitations and a full color catalog listing their credentials and supposedly important affiliations rather than their concepts and ideas. For them showing art in some of the dilapidated villas or a shipping container would be like farting in church...

Still, for others who do invest in the creation of alternative spaces (such as Red Dot, VAFA and kOOii itself) it is hard to get the Colombo based crowds to truck out beyond the Colombo 3-7 boundaries.

For Goethe's programming is must be hard to define the line whereby they can be inclusive and effective at the same time: to make sure not to cater exclusively to the westernized Colombo elite (those who go clubbing) and alienate the Sinhalese speaking cultural majority (all those who graduated from the local arts schools) who stand the benefit most from some cultural exchange and fresh ideas.

Art show in the warehouses on Park Street
Most Sri Lanka artists are not used to showing their work in alternative spaces.

Ai Weiwei and the Law

2011-04-10T16:11:00.000+05:30

Ai Weiwei and the Law

Art Radar was at Hong Kong release Ai Weiwei rally today #aiw... on Twitpic

2011-04-10T16:09:00.000+05:30

Art Radar was at Hong Kong release Ai Weiwei rally today #aiw... on Twitpic

The Art of Business, The Business of Art

2011-04-09T11:37:00.001+05:30

work by Zhang Xiaogang, China’s hottest contemporary painter, was the most expensive contemporary work sold at Sotheby’s, going for $2.97 million

Is it fair to say that since Asian countries joined the world of contemporary art, art has become synonymous with money, finance, investments and profits?

Nowhere in this world is the discourse on contemporary art so closely related with the discourse on money as in Shanghai, Delhi and Dubai. It stretches from Jakarta and Bangkok to Lahore and Dhaka. I often wonder if not for the mega million dollar price-tags -or the possibility of these tags- currently attached to works of art, would the Asians (read: wealthy Chinese and Indians) pronounce an interest in their contemporary arts at all? And would western buyers, dealers and collectors even take notice of it?

Nowhere in this world is the discourse on contemporary art so closely related with the discourse on money as in Shanghai, Delhi and Dubai.

Of course, mixing art with money did not start in Asia. Art stardom started in the sixties in New York, where despite Andy Warhols egalitarian pronouncement on celebrity "everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes" he set in motion an upward trend of making stunning profits from art.

Chinese contemporary artist Liu Ye's oil-and-acrylic "Bright Road," which fetched HK$19.1 million at Sotheby's Hong Kong auction

So why blame it on the Asians? All through history, the arts in traditional forms based on time defying traditions and sublime skills have been very closely linked to Asian culture. But it is the western inspired and western sanctioned contemporary art that seems to attract a completely different crowd; that of investors, financiers, speculators and patrons. Everywhere in Asia -from state sanctioned initiatives in Singapore, to auctions in Shanghai and art fairs in Delhi and Dubai, is the talk and the smell of money. Fortunes are to be made and these fortunes, more than anything else, represent the real interest in the arts.

“Demand for the best Chinese contemporary artworks is back,” Eric Huang, a Taipei-based buyer and dealer, said in an interview at the auction. “Don’t be surprised to see prices match or even beat pre-crisis levels very soon.”

A recent Sotheby's auction of Chinese contemporary art held in Hong Kong was predicted to rake in almost $13 million from wealthy Asian collectors. About 100 pieces brought under the hammer at the auction had rarely been seen in public since their acquisition by Belgian collectors, Guy and Myriam Ullens. Sotheby's called the collection of works "one of the most important and comprehensive assemblages of contemporary Chinese art created to date".

But what does that actually mean?

The works were selected by an investor, praised by a trader and sold on to another investor. These so called most important works were hardly seen, studied or appraised by a larger audience, never judged by anyone on any other that their commercial value and not widely shown in a public art gallery or museum. Do we need any more proof that the paintings are the new stocks and bonds to be traded at specialized marketplaces between members of a selected moneyed elite?

With the value of artworks artificially driven up by investors, even the larger museums of this world can hardly afford to display, let alone purchase such 'important' works. The public museum and the private art collection have never been as removed from each other as in the current commercial climate.

Where does this all leave the artist? Besides becoming a superstar millionaire and providing an investor with an opportunity for portfolio diversification?
Where museums can't afford and the public can't enjoy, the artist is reduced to become a marketeer, edged on by powerful gallery owners and buyers to be catering to the right climate and trend, to copy and paste to stay within the realm of what is considered profitable.

And where does it leave the critics? Forget about the critical polemics of yesteryear, the shoestring publications and intellectual rebelliousness.The art critic of today has become the star-maker and spin doctor whose judgment is neatly tied to the manipulations of powerful dealers, curators and investors who in now firmly control the entire apparatus of appraising, buying and selling.

why Pala Pothupithiye deserves to win

2011-03-27T11:42:00.000+05:30

In this months issue of ArtAsiaPacific I wrote why Sri Lankan society is not well suited for contemporary art to flourish: 1)The basic feudalistic and caste mentality -which is still present in many forms- perpetuates the huge divide between the westernized elite and the average Sinhalese speaking artist. 2) Active government policies to support the arts are absent 3) There is no entrepreneurial, meritocratic, highly mobile & educated class to embrace and support the development of an artistic climate.(to read all go to the magazine or click here) .

Pala Pothupithiye -who was announced as the winner of the 2010 Sovereign Asian Art Prize - is one of the few artists who has been able to come into his own despite the country's shortcomings. Pala hails from Sri Lanka's south, the traditional Sinhalese heartland. He descends from a line of dancers and artisans, whom in traditional societal terms are linked to a lower caste. He was a student at the Colombo art school -which since the 1970s has systematically been degraded to accommodate the non-elite - but because he was talented, joined up with the artist collective Theertha to become one of their most successful members.

Theertha is the institution best placed for nourishing budding talents. It selects its artists on merit, not on the number of foreign passports they hold or on the commercial value of their work. It protects its artist from art vultures and commercial gallerists by offering them space to grow and develop. It also invests in them the right concepts on which art should be based: that beyond the formal elements of form, shape and structure there should be an independent, individual and conceptual endeavor of an innovative nature.

The winning work was an official map of the northern part of the country: the old Jaffna kingdom that became the main battlefield of the Sri Lankan civil war. The artist pencil and pen drawings of claws and teeth along the outlines of the landmass rewrote the official narrative: this was not a conflict of the people versus the terrorists (as the war has been depicted in the media), but the Singhalese against the Tamils, which stands as a more accurate description of the 30 year armed conflict which ended as recent as 2009.

Congratulations to Pala! with a sincere wish that his work will help serve as an example of why the contemporary arts in Sri Lanka might eventually catch up with the region.

Asian Contemporary Art Week

2011-03-25T17:52:00.000+05:30

With news from Asia dominating headlines on a daily basis, Asian Contemporary Art Week is flourishing in New York City. From March 21 to 31, galleries, museums, and talks all around the city showcase contemporary Asian artists. Organized by the Asian Contemporary Art Consortium, the event gives a platform to artists at the forefront of the modern Asian art movement, which seeks to blend old traditions with Western influences to create pieces that reflect the struggle of preserving and protecting culture in the face of diffusion.

To increase active dialogue between Asia and the West, numerous talks were held in a series called “Dialogues in Asian Contemporary Art.” It featured 25 renowned artists from the United States and Asia who sought to increase awareness of artistic communities in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan. Performance art played an important role in much of the discussion. Korean artist Atta Kim created a 1300-pound, five-and-a-half-foot-tall ice sculpture of Buddha to be placed in the lobby of the Rubin Museum from March 25 through 27. The sculpture will be allowed to melt, symbolizing the growing fusion of Asian and Western cultures.

The most popular feature of Asian Contemporary Art Week is the Thursday night gallery openings of rising Asian artists. One of the more interesting exhibits that opened on March 24 showcased the work of Indonesian artist Agus Suwage whose exhibit, “The End is Just Beginning is the End,” illustrates themes of death, homosexuality, and sex that are taboo in Indonesian society. Displayed at the Tyler Rollins Fine Art gallery in Chelsea, this exhibit offered a fascinating example of the modernization and liberalization of Indonesian culture. What makes Suwage’s exhibit worth viewing, apart from its historical and social implications, is the fact that all the exhibited paintings are done on sheets of metallic zinc—a rare and difficult artistic feat that is commendable for the sheer skill it requires to successfully execute.

Pala Pothupitiye as the winner of the 2010 Sovereign Asian Art Prize

2011-03-21T09:37:00.002+05:30

Hong Kong, 17 March 2011 – The Sovereign Art Foundation announced Pala Pothupitiye as the winner of the 2010 Sovereign Asian Art Prize at a gala dinner and auction in Hong Kong.

Pala was the recipient of the US$25,000 prize for Jaffna Map, in which he redraws official maps of Jaffna, located in the northern tip of Sri Lanka and a key city in the war between the Tamil Tigers from the north and the southern Sinhala Lions. Ferocious teeth and claws of Lions and Tigers decorate the land mass, while the ‘internally displaced persons’ are represented in the border areas, being chased away from the bestial clash.

Over 400 nominated entries from across Asia were received this year, of which 30 finalists were selected by a distinguished panel of judges: David Elliott, Fumio Nanjo, Lars Nittve, Tan Boon Hui, David Tang and Xu Bing. The works of the remaining 29 finalists were auctioned off, with sales totaling over S$300,000. Half of the proceeds go to the artists and the other half is donated to arts charities supported by The Sovereign Art Foundation. The winning artwork is retained by The Sovereign Art Foundation in order to promote the artist and Asian art to the community at large. The work will be eventually donated to a museum or used to further charitable causes.

Major auction results include:

Artificial Wonderland No.2 by Yang Yongliang, US$35,000
Witness from Baghdad by Halim Al-Karim, US$24,000
After a Hard Day’s Work by Amanullah Mojadidi, US $14,000

The winner was picked by on line votes.

Leading Artists at Christie's New York Sale of South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art

2011-03-09T09:59:00.000+05:30

Leading Artists at Christie's New York Sale of South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art
NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art auction will feature works of leading 20th and 21st century Indian and Pakistani artists, juxtaposing tradition with a contemporary edge. The sale presents an exhilarating array of important works and will feature celebrated Modern Masters Tyeb Mehta, Syed Haider Raza, Francis Newton Souza, Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, Maqbool Fida Husain, Arpita Singh, Bhupen Khakhar and Manjit Bawa alongside the biggest names in contemporary art including Subodh Gupta, Rashid Rana, Atul Dodiya, Anju Dodiya, and TV Santhosh.

Tyeb Mehta’s diptych Bulls, 2005-2007 (estimate on request) leads the sale. His last completed work, Bulls is the culmination of Mehta’s oeuvre and presents a rare opportunity for serious collectors to acquire the artist’s final and definitive achievement. Mehta has made history in the field at Christie’s, New York in 2002 by becoming the first Modern Indian artist to achieve in excess of $300,000 at auction and again in 2005, when Mahisasura became the first work to achieve in excess of $1,500,000. Monumental in scale, Bulls draws upon the artist’s unique iconography developed throughout his multi-decade career which spanned the genres of painting, sculpture and film.

Another magnificent highlight is Syed Haider Raza’s Untitled, 1985 (estimate $800,000-1,000,000). It is a masterpiece which belongs to a key period in the artist’s career when after many years working within the styles of the Ecole de Paris, his artistic path brought him full circle and he began to integrate vital elements of his Indian heritage into his paintings. At Christie’s in June 2010 Saurashtra from the same period, made history in the field, becoming the first work to achieve $3,486,965, setting a world auction record for any Modern Indian work of art and a world auction record for the artist.

From a Private French Collection, S. H. Raza’s Untitled, 1980 (estimate: $200,000-300,000) demonstrates the artist’s transition from expressionist and geometric styles. This work is one of his first forays into the depiction of the bindu which significantly, was illustrated on a postage stamp issued in 1982 for the ‘Festival of India’.

Vasudeo S. Gaitonde’s contemplative masterpiece Untitled, 1987 comes from a distinguished Private Collection (estimate: $300,000-500,000). The artist’s ethereal and complex paintings conjure a veiled and highly codified version of the natural world, influenced by Zen philosophy and ancient calligraphy. Unlike his more prolific contemporaries, Gaitonde produced very few finished works during his lifetime and this presents a rare opportunity to acquire a significant work by the artist.

Maqbool Fida Husain’s Amplessi (Embrace) (estimate: $500,000-700,000) is an exceptional work by the artist and formerly in the collection of famed Italian film director Roberto Rossellini. The artist was a frequent guest at the Italian home of the Rossellinis and it was during one of these visits in the late 1950s that he painted this important work. Of immediate visual appeal and characterized by a strong emotional undercurrent, it is perhaps Husain's reflection of his hosts. Skillful economy of line and form combine with swiftly defined linear brushstrokes to create an idyllic, gestural simplicity in a subtle palette.

Another highlight by MF Husain, The Lost Princesses, 1964 (estimate: $200,000-300,000) from the Private Collection of acclaimed American actress Charlotte Rae, reflects the interdisciplinary nature of music, sculpture, dance, painting and film which provided enormous inspiration to the artist. The work depicts Husain’s masterful synthesis of a classically Indian subject into a modern artistic language.

An iconic work by Bhupen Khakhar, Landscape with Cannon (estimate: $180,000-250,000) depicts the artist’s flat, saturated colors reminiscent of David Hockney whom he met in the 1970s and similarly typifies the artist’s strong narrative quality, complex spatial arrangements and bold use of color.

From the Estate of Manjit Bawa, Untitled (Gaja Lakshmi), 2004 (estimate: $270,000-350,000) depicts one of the manifestations of the goddess of wealth, flanked by elephants lustrating her with devotional ardor. Reinforcing the connections between divine and earthly power, Gaja Lakshmi’s auspicious iconography is depicted on a grand scale.

Additional highlights include Arpita Singh’s Beginning of the Festival, 1973-1974 (estimate: $80,000-120,000) and Rameshwar Broota’s, Untitled (estimate: $200,000-300,000). The male body is a predominant feature of Broota's oeuvre as a universal 'Adam' of the twenty-first century and the artist's exceptional handling of myriad
textures and chromatic nuances is here employed to masterful effect.

A remarkable selection of contemporary art from the region is led by Subodh Gupta’s Black Thing (estimate: $600,000-800,000). A major highlight, this semi-globed constellation transforms hundreds of stainless steel tongs into a metallic explosion of wonder on a monumental scale. Gupta draws heavily from his own experience in culling material for his art, recasting traditional objects of Indian culture in contemporary media and contexts.

TV Santhosh’s Stitching an Undefined Border, 2007 (estimate: $80,000-120,000) presents the artist’s dynamic, signature style. One of the leading contemporary Indian artists working today, it reflects the complexity of current and historic events and resonates on both a global and local level. Alongside Rashid Rana’s The World is Not Enough, 2006 (estimate: $70,000-90,000) these cutting-edge works present collectors with the unique opportunity to acquire significant works that have been exhibited in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Atul Dodiya’s Walls and Shadows, 1991-2 (estimate: $80,000-120,000) is an excellent example of the photorealist style which defined the artist’s oeuvre in the 1980s and first brought him critical acclaim. Dodiya painted this work during his year-long residency at the Ecole de Beaux Arts, Paris in 1991. It is one of the last works in this style and takes cues from the vibrant, two-dimensional Pop of David Hockney and Dodiya’s use of light may be compared to paintings by Edward Hopper.

Additional contemporary highlights include Jitish Kallat’s Polite, Divine and Helpless, 1998-1999 (estimate: $30,000-50,000) and Anju Dodiya’s Expulsion, 2000 (estimate: $50,000-70,000); alongside a seminal early painting by Modern Pakistani Master, Zahoor ul Akhlaq Composition 166, 1963 (estimate: $10,000-15,000) and a significant group of early works by Indian Modernist and founder of the Progressive Artists’ Group, Francis Newton Souza.

Auction: South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art March 23 at 10 am
Viewing: Christie’s Rockefeller Galleries March 18- 22

Sotheby's to hold Chinese art sale in Hong Kong

2011-03-09T09:58:00.000+05:30

Sotheby's to hold Chinese art sale in Hong Kong

(AFP) – Feb 10, 2011

HONG KONG — Sotheby's said Thursday it will hold a Chinese contemporary art sale in Hong Kong, an auction that could rake in almost $13 million as the city continues to draw wealthy Asian collectors.
About 100 pieces from renowned Belgian collector Baron Guy Ullens will go under the hammer on April 3, Sotheby's said, adding that most of the collection from the 1980's onward had rarely been seen in public since their acquisition.
A few days later the auction giant will hold another sale featuring about 80 lots of Imperial Chinese porcelain, expected to fetch about $121 million.
Sotheby's described the Ullens pieces as "one of the most important and comprehensive assemblages of contemporary Chinese art created to date" by well-known artists including Zhang Xiaogang.
Zhang's triptych Forever Lasting Love is expected to fetch $3.2 million, it said.
"The essence of The Ullens Collection is the visualisation of the Chinese nation?s history through works of art," said Evelyn Lin, Sotheby?s head of contemporary Asian art.
Hong Kong has emerged as the world's third-largest auction centre after New York and London, thanks in large part to China's rapidly growing number of millionaires.
Mainland Chinese are regular buyers of the top lots at sales of art, jewellery and wine and Hong Kong has positioned itself as the gateway to China's vast market.
Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved

2011-03-09T09:51:00.001+05:30

Island's gems: contemporary Sri Lankan art exhibition - in pictures

Contemporary Art from Sri Lanka is the first international showcase of the country's leading contemporary artists since the end of the civil war in 2009. At Asia House, London W1, until 12 March

Colombo Art Dispatch

2011-03-02T09:22:00.005+05:30

kOOii wrote a dispatch from Colombo for the current issue of the ArtAsiaPacific magazine.

Sri Lanka is an island in every sense of the word. While the rest of Asia has made huge leaps in every socioeconomic field, including in the arts, this island state has crawled—and not always forward. For an island to be something other than an island, it needs a modern and welcoming outlook: a willingness to absorb, blend, mix, reflect and ultimately be open to change. And that is not what contemporary Sri Lanka is about.

The diverse people of Sri Lanka are not linked by a common ancestry, and they do not share the same cultural heritage, much like Singapore, where different ethnic groups come together under a single banner. But unlike Singapore, active government policies for contemporary art to develop and flourish are absent, just like the entrepreneurial, meritocratic, highly mobile and well educated citizens needed to embrace the multimillion-dollar business that Asian art has become.

Sri Lankans are still a “traditional” people, for whom success and acceptance in society relies on fixed cultural norms such as respect for elder people—the teacher is always right—staying within one’s social group and doing what one is told. Compounding these intractable social boundaries is the still-healing wound of profound national trauma (mass murder and intermittent civil war has colored the past three decades), deeply-felt social jealousy and a certain inertia or self-satisfaction derived from living in a country so fertile that, to paraphrase Sri Lankan-born author Michael Ondaatje, “you can grow food by spitting on the ground.”

True, this island has impressive monuments and clever irrigation systems dating back centuries, and more recently, the country’s famed architect Geoffrey Bawa created a much followed and highly original style of design by applying international modernism to the specific demands of a tropical climate. Colombo has a comparatively lively theater tradition, even if most theater professionals hold day jobs to sustain themselves.

But when it comes to celebrating the visual arts, you need not look further than the National Art Gallery; a badly lit crumbling colonial building with a handful of paintings randomly stuck on molding walls. For the visual arts to flourish one needs vibrancy, a strong cultural identity and, most essential, a responsive audience. And none are available in Sri Lanka at this point in time.

The huge gap between the Westernized elite and the Sinhalese-speaking majority perpetuates a strange marriage of arrogance and parochialism. While the former group holds dual passports that open doors to foreign universities, the latter group enters the local art schools; their disadvantage is cemented by the fact that they do not speak a globally understood language, have never traveled and are likely be taught by teachers selected on a basis of seniority rather than skill and who lack a global perspective. Furthermore, the Westernized collectors in Colombo are like any bourgeoisie: cherrypicking a great painting adds value to their status as well as their wallet, but they do not encourage assimilation of what is considered a lesser social group. The artists whose work they want to buy (cheaply, I might add) are not invited to their jazz concerts, parties or newspaper-covered wedding extravaganzas.

The art community, in turn, is not trying too hard either. Stuck with a limited repertoire and lacking in skills—for when teachers can’t draw a human figure, the students will never learn— artists execute their work carelessly, in cheap acrylics on home-stretched canvas. Unable to recognize an opportunity to look beyond their immediate surroundings, young artists are highly suspicious of alternative ways and insist on protocol. When they show their work they want printed invitations and full color catalogs listing their credentials and supposedly important affiliations rather than their concepts.

A small number of artists and teachers defy the trend by carrying a torch, or rather a machete, carving their way to new open fields in the dense jungles of a stifled society. There is the artist-collective Theertha which is relying on foreign funding and has drawn the familiar lines of exclusivity along boundaries of its own. Theertha is genuinely committed to the encouragement and nurturing of budding talent and their agenda includes regional and international cooperation and developing curatorial practice.

Other bright lights are Kingsley Gunatilleke who while somewhat senior, is unpretentiously coaching young artists and students to challenge themselves, and Chandragupta Thenuwara who came back from Moscow to set up the Vibhavi Academy, a private art school as an alternative to the state run institutes. As artists they themselves courageously and effectively address racial policies at the heart of the country’s conflict.

After being coached by Kingsley, the graduate classes of 2009 and 2010 from the University of Kalaniya fine arts faculty showed interesting, original and socio-politically themed work. But the graduates have since moved back to their villages to take up a teaching position at best, because staying in Colombo, keeping a studio and making a living as an independent artist is tough and expensive. And, of course, they were never invited to the jazz concerts.

A lot of water will have to flow under the bridge – or through its clever ancient irrigation systems - before Sri Lanka’s artists can confidently claim their place next to their Asian peers. It will require the Singhalese artists to abandon their fear of the outside world, for the westernized elite to drop their traditional caste consciousness and for all to adopt an open, tolerant vision and a willingness to take creative risks.

Thai art in Cambodia

2011-01-10T17:15:00.000+05:30

In Cambodia for the holidays, kOOii was lucky to catch the last bit of the show by Thai artists Attasit Pokpong at The Chinese House in Phnom Penh.

Born in 1977 in Thailand, Attasit Pokpong is considered one of the fastest rising stars of the art scene in Thailand.
When compared to what is generally produced in Sri Lanka I continue to be amazed at he level of quality and originality found in the work of artists from other Asian countries.

Back home I googled Attasit and found he is represnted by numerous galleries around the globe, all of whom have his work for sale. His producton evels must be extremely high because his works are large.

Sadly, Chinese House owner has decided to move future art exhibitions to another location in town and revert the exceptionally classy Chinese House premises into a restaurant.

change the world one wardrobe at a time

2010-09-12T11:15:00.000+05:30

kOOii is seeking ideas on how to spread the wealth while freeing ourselves of clutter- end our preoccupation with our looks and status - save money, time and valuable resources - find alternative forms of instant gratification that are based on more a sustainable premise than just consuming
go to kOOii nifty&thrifty and see how you can contribute to change the world one wardrobe at a time

Berengere Brooks from kOOii to Dar-es-Salaam

2010-05-13T14:40:00.001+05:30

French artist, theatre - and fashion designer Berengere Brooks, is showing her work in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. The exhibition "Conversations" opened at the Alliance Francaise on the 30th of April. Brooks -who used to live in Sri Lanka for 3 years- held a preview of this show at kOOii gallery in June 2009.

Media Stress: Art Way Gallery welcome addition to stale art scene

2010-04-26T13:42:00.004+05:30

poster at the entrance

media conference

Sunday (25 april) held a few surprises for me but none as exciting as the discovery of Art Way Gallery, way off the beaten track in the Colombo suburb of Nugegoda. I must admit I had passed the old villa a couple of times, thinking that given the location it must be some half way house for amateur artists. On my way to Mount Lavinia and with a bit of time on my hands, I decided to make a stop and was immediately immersed into the Media Stress 2010 exhibition by Sudbath Abesekara which by way of greeting had spilled out of the veranda and onto the parking lot where a 5 meter tall stack of newspapers had absorbed the brain of a bare chested individual. Just as in real life, this show is an experience of how the media bombards us at any given moment in the day. Newspapers flying though the air, inundating our living rooms, wringing itself out into a pool of blood, giant microphones hosting life birds, toilet seat televisions and a media conference for the assembled press symbolized by a broken bottle, a pair of scissors, a dagger etc.The show is funny, original and above all: so well executed. Abesekara's installations had nothing of the contrived intellectualism you so often see when artists try to address a social issue. Nor did it have the pained feel of the suffering individual. While a critical comment on the media and all its players (including its receivers) there was a lot of humor.

Photos on the wall showed the opening performance by the artists, which seems like something I feel sorry to have missed.
performance by Abesekara


		toilet screen

meditation mind

newspapers like giant intestines snaking trough our lives.

head first in pile high papers

thrown through the air

The space itself - an old restored villa - is also refreshing: it does not have white walls, some rooms are tiled (old kitchens?) and the studio in the back has a thatch roof and a dirt floor.
The exhibition runs until the 2nd of May.
Art Way Gallery: No 66 Old Kesbewa Road in Nugegoda
phone: ++94 11 2852606

Degree Show 2009 at Barefoot Gallery Colombo

2010-03-26T14:00:00.000+05:30

Lipstick by Mahawa Daya Samarathungha

Barefoot Gallery is the only space in Colombo where a broad range of quality arts can find a temporary home.

From well established, to cutting edge, local or international, famous or start ups, Barefoot is the only place where the art enthusiast is not left with a commercial bad taste in the mouth.

One example is that Barefoot opens its doors to the annual Degree Show, held by the graduating class of the University of Kelaniya Visual Arts Unit.

The 2009 final year art students have -with the strong guidance of artist/lecturer Kingsley Gunnatilleke- produced a surprising show, with a lot of quality work, much of it social-politically themed.

The visual arts might be the only place left where young Sri Lankans are encouraged to investigate their personal perspectives and develop their individual thoughts on things that matter to them.

Krishani Priyandarshani- Untitled
The installation by Krishani Priyandarshani comments on alcohol abuse and domestic violence.

Empty Bullets- Gayan Krishantha Perera
Ballot Box made out of empty shells by Gayan K. Perera

Fountain of Love by Sriyani Ariyawansha
Love can't be bought, Goache on paper and Photoprint by Sriyani Ariyawansha

Becoming a star by S.S. Dehiwaththa, motherboard with small TV screen. Comments on popularity, stardom and the influence of the conventional mass media
Skull- by Buddhika M. Priyadarshana, Steel, Plastic & Brass
When I was a child there was a moose skull in my grandfathers house. I was told it was a symbol of hunting skills....

The seat of dreams: Aruna H. Thennakoon

Show is on until March 21st. Open Daily at Barefoot gallery

Scrapmetal

2010-02-17T13:55:00.006+05:30

The Galle Literary Festival 2010 was held last month, and one of its fringe events was the exhibition of sculptures by Prageeth Manohansa. Manohansa is an old favorite of kOOii and his latest work found a very decorative temporary home at the beautiful Amangalle Hotel.

On display were a horse, a lion, variations of birds and a panther. Since being discovered by kOOii in 2008 at the Galle Art Walk, Prageeth Manohansa has come a long way, with buyers apparently lining up to pick up his masterly transformed car parts and agricultural tools.
He is definitely a rare talent.
Still, I have a soft spot for his earlier work - which was simpler and more imaginary. (see below)
Buddha- one of Prageeth Manohansa's older works.

Ranjan Aluwihare 's Nudes

2010-02-15T09:38:00.005+05:30

Watercolor has a stigma. Mention of the medium conjures images of active pensioners and frustrated housewives churning out washed out landscapes, sentimental portraits, and above all, flowers.
Not so with the work of Ranjan Aluwihare, who seems to be using the inherent qualities of the medium to move past the merely scenic or vaguely topical. His nudes (mostly female and some male) are in his own words "a graphical representation and never intended to be absolutely accurate- it’s a notion in motion of the female form, the motion coming from the fluidity of the medium”.

Architect and designer Ranjan Aluwihare studied for a diploma in fine art and life drawing at the Chelsea School of Art, London. The original sketches he made in the past of his life drawing class were used as the basis for the paintings

Ranjan's water colours opened at the Barefoot Gallery on Tuesday, February 9 and will continue till February 28.

Delightful design from Germany in Colombo

2010-02-11T09:27:00.010+05:30

Photo: Tabula Rasa
1987 by GINBANDE Design - a small table and attached seats pull out to 5 meter in length.

Only one month into the opening of the Perera Gallery in Colombo, the Goethe Institute has filled its space with a delightful exhibition of German New Design.

The exhibition "Conscious, simple – consciously simple. The Emergence of an alternative product culture" features furniture and lighting design by the then up and coming, but by now well established, young German designers of the 1980’ and 90’s. The pieces are inspired by avant garde art and ‘’German New Design’, an enormously popular art phenomenon, in the field of applied art.
photo: Herman Becker steel chair

Just go and marvel at the simplicity and ingenuity of these designers who have taken the German sense of style and organization to an extreme of functionality and fun. Experience how comfortable a chair can be when it is made out of construction rods and concrete.
photo: Endless Shelf by Werner Aisslinger

This is the biggest exhibition of Design ever held in Sri Lanka. This German exhibition has
been traveling for over 10 years in 29 cities all over the world. It has already attracted more
than 300.000 visitors.

The GoetheInstitut has collaborated with the University of the Visual and Performing Arts,
the Academy of Design and the Moratuwa University in Sri Lanka.

Entrance: Rs 50.00 students
Rs 150 with mini catalogue
Rs 100(ticket only) adults
At: JDA Perera Gallery
University of Visual & performing Art
46 Horton Place, Colombo 7
Gallery opening hours MondaySunday
10am7pm
Gallery opening hours MondaySunday
10am7pm
For more information Call the Goethe Institut on:011 2694562, or 0011 4712636‐8

Official opening of J.D.A .Perera Gallery

2010-01-28T10:33:00.007+05:30

The Faculty of Visual Arts of Colombo finally opened its new on campus gallery with an exhibition of work by students and lecturers. The J.D.A. Perera Gallery (named after the great pioneer in the field of art education) is an impressive museum style structure, and the first of its kind in Sri Lanka.

kOOii hopes that the arrival of this new art space signals a new era for contemporary visual arts in Sri Lanka and will become a hub as well as a breeding ground for creative revival. kOOii hopes it will do so by:

* allowing a broad range of younger artists to show their work in a non-commercial setting.
* offering a stimulating and open environment for local and international art to flourish
* encouraging students and artists to transcend boundaries in experimentation, creativity and research.

The inaugural show includes works by veteran artists Stanley Abeysinghe, H.A. Karunarathe, and of course the beautiful oil portraits by J.D.A. Perera. Of the younger generation works of Dumith Kulasekera are on view.

The current show runs until 4 February 2010.
Open Daily at 46, Horton Place, Colombo 7
Catalog: 500 LKR (unfortunately the catalog just lists artist bio and very little useful information)

Back in business

2010-01-27T12:26:00.004+05:30

After a few months of complete apathy, kOOii is back with (hopefully) renewed vigor and enthusiasm. We are very pleased with Art Asia Pacific Almanac 2010 , which again included 2 pages on Sri Lanka where kOOii's art space was baptized KAG (kOOii Art Gallery).
It is not clear to me who came up with this acronym but it might just stick.
This must be the right moment to let everyone know that KAG is for rent (or for use under other terms) for artists, artist groups, workshops, exhibitions, classes and other art related events. Just contact kOOii if you have a proposal or even a vague plan. Just don't expect funding or freebies to be thrown your way without offering something useful in return.

Colombo Art Biennale (3) Imagining Peace a review

2009-09-16T12:46:00.009+05:30

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

2009-09-16T11:30:00.019+05:30

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

2009-09-16T10:15:00.015+05:30

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

2009-07-28T17:00:00.012+05:30

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.