When jumbos trumpet on the canvas

Vishi R Dharmasiriwardena says it’s hard for him to even hear about it. The wildlife and nature artist covered his ears when he was asked about what he thinks about the human elephant conflict and hakka patas, frequently on the news. “It is a very sad story. The elephant is a national treasure. An elephant in the wild is an awe inspiring sight. These animals cannot articulate their struggle to survive. That is why we should be helping them,” Vishi pointed out. “I believe we have to promote the elephant everywhere including hotels. Take Africa or Kenya for example, they promote their wildlife. I have travelled a lot, I have seen how it’s promoted. Why can’t we do it here? Why can’t we use the elephants to our advantage, so that we will be protecting the elephant while also promoting tourism,” he stressed.

Vishi is a nature lover and he believes that this love for Mother Nature made him a wildlife painter. He started painting at the age of five and has had neither formal training nor an academic training in art. When he was young he used to visit national parks and zoological gardens on many occasions to study animal behavior and anatomy. He claimed that he is a self- taught artist, except for the help he received from the art master at school. Little Vishi started his work with pencil sketches, moved on to crayon and then tried his hand at water colors. By the age of 14, he had already begun to use oil paint. Recalling his journey, he said he was inspired to become a professional wildlife artist, upon seeing the work of wildlife artists published in magazines.

When he held a joint exhibition with his brother titled ‘Weluwana Siththaru’, at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery Colombo in 1985, he was just 16 years old. Following year, he did 65 oil paintings for a leading beach hotel in Sri Lanka. He got the opportunity to exhibit some of his art work at the Mondial International Art Festival held in Hong Kong in 1996. He held his second exhibition ‘Nature’s Savage Innocence’ in 2001 at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery. He received much critical acclaim from the British, French, Canadian, Italian and American ambassadors who were highly impressed with his work. His two large paintings, ‘The Charge’ and ‘The Serpent Eagle’ were purchased for the lifetime private collection of the USA embassy in Colombo few years ago.

Majority among his paintings are elephants. Moreover, he received his recent title for a painting of a magnificent elephant during the Jaipur Art Festival. “I was fond of the elephant since I was a kid. I used to sketch elephants since I was very young. At school also I selected art as a subject. After school I worked in the advertising field for a while as an artist. My interests were on landscaping and painting. But with time I developed my drawing skills and became a full time painter. When I visit other countries to take part in workshops, especially in India, I get lot of attention. This time, I painted an elephant in five days. I have never finished a painting within such a short period of time before. It is a personal record. My painting came out so well, the Indians who saw the painting were amazed. For them it was something that they have never seen,” he reiterated.

The International Jaipur Art Festival was held from March 19 to 23 at Hotel Diggi Palace Jaipur.  It is an international event where artists from all over the world participate. This year over 220 Indian and international artists joined the workshop from 25 countries and 22 states of India. “Madam Kiran Soni Gupta is the lady who invited me to this event. She saw my work last year. She was very pleased,” he recounted how he received the opportunity to participate at the Jaipur Art Festival. Kiran Soni Gupta is an Indian Administrative service officer of Rajasthan, more famous as an artist. “I was the only artist to represent Sri Lanka and I received the artist of the day title on the final day, which is considered a prestigious achievement,” he said proudly. “I believe it is a great honor to the country,” he added.

“People ask me why I am more interested in painting elephants. The elephant is an animal anybody loves to watch. It is intelligent and magnificent. Moreover we have our own elephant, Elephas maximus maximus, which I believe is a gift of Mother Nature,” he said. “My intentions of painting elephants are to promote them and make awareness on protecting them,” he added. His paintings are highly realistic and carries a three dimensional (3D) effect. Vishi does not use photographs or any other picture as reference when drawing. His paintings are what he has observed, he says. “They are experiences I gathered through continuous visits to national wildlife parks.”

According to him there is high demand for realistic art in Jaipur, where as Delhi and Mumbai has demand for abstract and modern art. But as he sees, there is no demand at all for paintings among the Sri Lankans. “Jaipur is a beautiful place with lot of cultural values unlike Mumbai. Maybe that’s why they have demand for realistic art. However, there is a demand for art and artists in India unlike in Sri Lanka,” he expressed his grief about the lack of enthusiasm for art in Sri Lanka. “The demand is actually going down in Sri Lanka. It is a pathetic situation. Our artists are literally on the road now. There is no proper gallery for them. Look at all the talented artists selling paintings along the road,” he pointed out.

He also said that it is hard for an artist to make money selling paintings in Sri Lanka, “Painting can only be engaged in as a pastime for fun. The artist should definitely engage in some other job, something like advertising to make a living. This happens because people don’t know how to appreciate art,” Vishi lamented. “People don’t want to buy paintings for large sums of money. They always go for the cheaper ones, despite the quality of the work. Our people spend lots of money building huge houses. But get cheaper paintings to decorate their walls. They don’t know the value of a painting. It’s as if they know nothing about art,” he added.

Vishi believes that people should make a habit of buying paintings for house decorations rather than buying printed foreign sceneries. “We should start talking about this for a start. Then we might be able to start a new trend,” he said while pointing out that such a trend would help the amateur artists struggling to build a name for themselves.

He also believes that it is an easy task to promote wildlife and nature paintings, photography as well as tourism since we have been gifted with all the necessities to do so by Mother Nature. “If people get organized and if the government imposes proper laws and a strong hand is extended to armature artists, it will not be a difficult task,” he opined. “Now it’s the time to promote Sri Lanka; the country, its culture, wildlife and nature as well as the artists. Foreigners are paying attention to Sri Lanka these days. If we promote our country methodically, they will be fascinated.”