Primary objective of the International Painters’ Residency program is to provide an environment of collaboration, experimentation and exchange for artists where they could work together in an informal unstructured program. The program expectations are that participating artists would use this opportunity to explore new ideas using the locally available material in response to the local context. 

In the past residencies Theertha’s focus has been on non conventional art forms such as installation, performance and experimental mixed media art.  As a way of bring attention on painting Theertha  formulated this residency program as specifically on the art practice of painting.  The program expectations were that participating artists would use this opportunity to explore new ideas in response to the local context that would extend, expand and stretch the conventional and established ideas and parameters of painting.  Therefore it was up to the artists to challenge, interpret and define the established conventions of ‘painting’.  Through the interaction and confrontation with the local environment the artists participated were able to come up with a interesting array of work that indicated the spectrum of ideas that can be explored.  The residency is being held at the Theertha Art Guest House located in Pita Kotte.

The participating artists in the Residency were Kuzana Ogg (USA), Ruchika Wason Singh (India), Kingsley Gunatilleke (Sri Lankan), Chamari Thapaswarage (Sri Lankan) and Lasantha Chandana Kumara (Sri Lankan).

The visiting artists presented their art portfolio to an invited audience of art students, artists and others at Red Dot Gallery in the ‘Artists’ Talk’ event organized by Theertha.




It was an attempt to give opportunity to for the participating artists and the art community to connect and initiate discussion. Residency is opened to the art community to visit and meet artists to get to know their art practice and working methods.

Kuzana Ogg explored the relationship of language to environment where she used Sinhala language characters as  reflection of a culture that contain amongst other things, reflections of the body's curves, the bend of a tree trunk, and the fullness of ripened fruit.  Her works ‘Letters’ and ‘Tall Tree’ were embroidered work on handmade banana paper where letters of the Sinhala alphabet appear between green guide lines, as they would in a primary school exercise book. 

  

 

  

Ruchika Wason Singh worked on the traditional elements and the representations that marks colonial elements in the Sri Lankan cultural and social environment.  Her works ‘Mooring of a Colonial Cousin’, Home is Where the Heart is Series etc. dealt with the themes of  connections and disconnection of continuity in personal histories and national histories. 

Kingsely Gunatilleke worked with the thematics of uncertainty and reminders of violence in his works ‘Artefacts or Remains’ that was done with broken objects set in fibre resin. A painting in solid transparent blocks of fibre.

 Lasantha Chandana Kumara, an artists who lives in the border village Dehiatta Kandiya where the agriculture issues are predominant did a series on weighing scales made of board.

Chamari Thapaswarage’s work re interpreted the images of female religious iconography.

The Residency program ended with an exhibition at the Red Dot Gallery, an art space maintained by Theertha.  The artwork produced in the residency were be shown in the exhibition from 10 to  20th June 2007.