Bandu Manamperi's Exhibition

'Numbed'

The first exhibition of
the "Theertha Pradarshana Wasanthaya" 2009 at Red Dot Gallery
will be open on SATURDAY, 17th October 2009 at 6.30 pm.
The exhibition will remain open from 18th October to 9th November 2009.
Gallery Hours: Monday to Wednesday 10.30 AM - 5.00 PM Sundays 11.00 AM - 4.30 PM.
Closed on all public and mercantile holidays.

Numbed: Art of Bandu Manamperi

17 October to 9 November 2009 at Red Dot Gallery.

Bandu Manamperi’s first art approach entered the society with the Made in IAS exhibition. That was with his powerful work “Instant Nirvana Private Limited”. This work received international and local attention.  Organized under Jagath Weerasinghe’s curatorial intervention, Made in IAS showcased the art reflecting the discourse of  90s Trend.

After the Made in IAS exhibition, Bandu’s art manifested as performances. Performance art emerged within the art practices supported by the 90s Trend. Being one of the initiators of performance art in Sri Lanka, Bandu Manamperi  remains as one of the leading performance artists active at present. As a performance artist, Bandu Manamperi explores three themes.  One is to highlight critically the oppressive cultural believes or practices forced upon woman that continuously prevailing in the male-centric society looking at the whole issue through a humane position. Another is to present through sensitive performances the individual’s pain in a war ridden society and its extreme anxieties. The other  is to interrogate critically, the  extreme religious interventions and blatantly extremist behavior of the state through political and sometimes witty performances.

This time, through the visual art exhibition at the Theertha  Red Dot Gallery, Bandu Manamperi engages in finer and deeper socio political issues. The visual motifs that Bandu suggests for this process are of three types in their basic appearance. The fist type is a visual-form that shows an expression ‘instantly frozen’ made from a mold taken from his body. This form is covered with different textured surfaces and hung at an elevated position from the floor. The second type of form is more flexible, similar to a skin without any texture. This can be suggested as the primary form that exists before putting on different textured surfaces as coverings. It is presented in the gallery space as limp form. The third type of visual form that Bandu presents in the exhibition is his own performance. Bandu’s attempt through this exhibition is to say that the individual  in a society ware different cultural/ political coverings as protective membrane over one’s own natural covering, the biological skin while  finding comfort and security within it. That is, the individual would put different coverings representing extremists and obsessive positions reflective of religion, history, nature, patriotism, self absorption, independence and media. This is done in relation to or in supportive of the relevant cultural and political environments.  Bandu suggests, that such tendencies in this complex political, cultural religious moment has restricted each other’s integrity and ideologies.

These socio-cultural  currents are influenced and dominated by a powerful political dialogue. This can be explored and elaborated further. That is that the first cultural covering is politically more innocent. The subsequent  coverings tend to be more political, and therefore not so innocent. Bandu articulates that in subtle political moments, all those social phenomena are experiencing a morbid relaxation, uncritically and in an exonerative manner. In other words Bandu suggests that all these social phenomena have succumbed to the common denominator, the total state sponsored ideological discourse.

The current exhibition  shows a direct connection to Bandu’s earlier works.  In his earlier work Bandu , primarily a performance artist has used his own body as the artistic form and built different textures on its surface. In this exhibition, Bandu uses his body as well as textured surfaces and works toward a singular objective.

Prasanna Ranabahu
13 October 2009

Translated by Lalith Manage