After about 15 years of painting little else other than Lord ganesh, I have now, started several other pieces. The paintings currently shown here are all acrylic on wood, 96x96cm.
On January 8th, 2009, the Editor of the Sunday Leader was shot by unidentified gunmen while on his way to work. He died a few hours later. The fact that he was shot in broad daylight in an area covered by numerous military and police checkpoints raised many questions.
His murder occurred just two days after the privately owned MVC/MTV television studios were ransacked and destroyed by a highly organised armed group, right in the heart of Colombo’s watertight security.
14 journalists and media workers have been killed in Sri Lanka over the past three years. More than 40 journalists have left the country. Many others have been arbitrarily apprehended, threatened and intimidated by un-named elements.
This painting invites the viewer to tie or untie the strings that surround the open mouth. All the other lips are sealed with aluminum wire, symbolic of the self censorship that surround the atrocities we live with today
As a Sri Lankan, with an Irish grandmother, a Sinhalese mother, a Tamil father, a Belgian daughter, a French wife and an English brother in law, you could safely say that my background is pretty mixed up.
Despite these mixed influences from all over the world, there are some sights and sounds that remind me of my Asian identity and who I am.
This realisation is symbolised by the humble mosquito coil, an integral part of any self respecting, Asian household. I have seen them in active duty all over Asia, in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Macau, Indonesia, India and of course Sri Lanka.
This painting is a part of a series of everyday objects that are unique to my Asian culture.
8 comments
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March 16, 2009 at 5:00 pm
mike
nice-like the new stuff! cant u do a slide show?
March 16, 2009 at 5:21 pm
mahenchanmugam
Thanks. Not sure how to do slide show but will try.
March 20, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Danny
the Ganesh subject was great and innovative; a lot of time, detail subliminal, and eye catching colors. The new work is expressive, talkative, and debatable and open for conversation, very current and relevant to events in Sri Lanka. I really like it and hope you can keep developing the pieces into themes, so the message strenghtens. There is plenty of inspiration in the current times we are living. Word of caution that although the first impulse to capture the dark side, it would be interesting to also see the neutral and positive aspects of Sri Lanka; courage, happiness, triumph, confusion, freedom.
March 23, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Giles
Hi Mahen, loved the Ganeshes but nice to see something different. Especially like the untitled monks painting.
March 31, 2009 at 11:46 am
Kevin
Mahen, loved the Ganesh work but glad to see you are trying new things. Sp leased you ran out of canvas/wood on the self portrait full frontal “Looking Back”, otherwise the bottom part would have gotten back into the ganesh theme…!
Really like the Galle Sketches… I think you should look at doing more of that type of work, capturing the old Sri Lanka before it goes away or gets harder to find. I know its been done before but with your style and your eye and the right theme, I think if could do well commercially. Kevin.
January 6, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Dee
wow love it
January 6, 2010 at 3:30 pm
mahenchanmugam
Thanks. Rantings in colombo also very cool…
March 6, 2010 at 9:55 am
Phibun Mike
Glad to see you are still painting….