by Nadeera Seneviratne
So you don’t always like all of it. For most people that would be true of even the traditional art of this country or the work of the old masters of the west. Yet almost all these paintings have a technique of application which is distinctive, a similarity between the painting of a building and the painting of a swaying tree: an unmistakable element of ‘style’ that helps to identify the creator of a painting that, at first glance, may either please the viewer or make her uncomfortable.

In the case of British artist Robert Sedgley, that feature of his work was entirely agreeable, and one is left to go from one painting to another picking out the best. Many of them would be remembered from the artist’s previous exhibitions in Sri Lanka, including paintings from his very first exhibition in Lanka at S.H. Sarath’s gallery in Nawala.

The larger watercolours of buildings were striking indeed; and where frontal views, without much need for minutely correct perspective being made necessary were attempted, the ‘street level’ scenes were even more arresting. Captured in bright, but not jarring colours, the pictures were detailed, but not in search of a photographic ‘veracity’. All of them are portrayed in bright light.

And as in all ‘realistic’ pictures, his work evokes a romantic element that cannot be as easily achieved as by clicking a camera button. For example, the site for ‘Corner Shop, Galle’ would not have been as arresting in a photograph, granted of course there may be photographers skilled enough to get somewhere close. Yet there is always that feeling of amazement that a painting could be so close to real life, and one doesn’t get that looking at a photograph. You wonder at the painting’s ‘truth’ as if it really were in front of you in all its detail. ‘Corner Shop, Galle’ was one such painting.

Such is the challenge that faces the artist who aspires to recreate what is before him, as opposed, say, to those who’d rather take easier options by wallowing in ‘expressionism’ or ‘barrellism’ or some such ‘ism’ along those lines.

Of course, this does not mean that, in Sedgley’s kind of work, every single detail has to be drawn, and some would protest that that would not be Art. Some would even argue that all art, (leaving aside, or taking into account Oscar Wilde’s ‘all art is useless’) whether realistic or not is always ‘expressionistic’. (That rare viewer who looks for hundred per cent ‘photographic’ resemblance-which too is both selective and amenable to manipulation- would then be induced to accepting Wilde’s dictum).

The ‘expressionistic’ quality of all art is acceptable, but it still remains true that some pictures have a more a realistic bent than others, and Sedgley’s work would be included in that genre.

If so, one would expect that the first thing most water colourists would seek to do, especially in handling buildings, is to ensure that the drawing would be flawless. If it isn’t, and the aberration, however slight, disturbs the viewer, a certain discordance is felt. Sometimes it is not noticeable, for the irregularity in line enhances, rather than degrades the artistic quality of the picture. For some artists do bend the rules to accommodate a different, often unorthodox balance or purpose to the picture. Painters with a tendency more towards abstract expressionism may do this.

Yet a clear decision has to be made as to whether one wants to be fully realistic or only partly so. Colleges of art often spend years teaching a student ‘correct perspective’- sometimes without bothering about its own ‘perspective’.

Sedgley’s paintings of course were a relief from the more often than not displayed ‘modern art’ in Colombo, especially at the Barefoot Gallery, which unfortunately too often provides a market place for fly-by-night posturers carrying banners proclaiming some ‘ism’. The number of paintings that were sold at this exhibition testify to Sedgley’s popularity, and one remembers more of his best work from the previous exhibitions which are now in the hands of collectors and art lovers. Particulary impressive among them was a painting of the Trinity College Church in Kandy displayed at the artist’s exhibition at the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects some months ago. Also among them was a well executed painting of Lankatilleke.

The ‘Hill Country Series’ are paintings from his first exhibition in Sri Lanka. The artist has painted scenes recalled from a train journey, their lack of detail and more free styled character being perhaps as a result of putting to paper fleeting pictures of the multi-tinted greenery he saw, train routes wobbling, as of now, through a scenery that many of us do not see. The landscape There was a time picturing mainly tea estates brings to mind the lost wonder of the once more verdant hills covered with forest, as repeatedly described by travelers in Ian Goonetileke’s collections of views of Lanka through the eye of foreigners a century and more ago.

The best of the paintings for me are the Justice Akbar Mawatha series and some portraits of old buildings in Galle. Sedgley demonstrates the possibilities that lie in the British tendency to gain expertise in watercolours. It is to be hoped that his work will be made more readily accessible through publication in book form.

Journeys, buildings and places. They appear and disappear sometimes around street corners in Robert Sedgley’s work, their prevailing attraction being the portrayal of life. Perhaps, some may call this drab, and old fashioned, but perhaps it is only just a refusal to complicate life’s matters in superficial ways.
British born artist Robert Sedgley is a resident of Spain. His third exhibition in Sri lanka 'Street Level' is currently on at the Barefoot Gallery and will continue till February 3 (Sunday).