SOSL heralds the season
On Saturday December 10 at 7.30 p.m., the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka reverberates festive cheer across the Ladies’ College Hall at the SOSL Family Christmas Concert. Featuring the Old Joes Choir which has won multiple awards at the World Choir Games in Latvia with their specialty choral, classical and contemporary music and past Bridgetines Choir, the all female choral ensemble CONTEMPO, the concert will be conducted by Eshantha Peiris.
With a programme that begins with the Orb and Septre Coronation March by W. Walton, the classical greats like Handel’s Zadok the Priest and Shepherd’s Farewell by Berlioz are refreshingly tempered with light hearted jazzy and Latin flavours. Toe tapping are Lara’s Granada, Tico Tico and St. Louis Blues and the more traditional Carol of the Bells will make way for a true revelation in the Musicological Journey Through the Twelve Days of Christmas. And as at all SOSL Christmas Concerts, the audience too enjoys a jolly sing-along of favourite Christmas songs and carols.
The SOSL Christmas Concert is sponsored by Link Natural and SAGT. Tickets are available at Sarasavi Bookshop Nugegoda and Maharagama, Tickets.lk Office on Jawatte Road, Yamaha Music Center and Abans Showroom Colombo 3, in addition to tickets.lk online.
It’s impossible to separate colour from Alex Stewart. Since November 18, his flamboyantly colourful paintings have made a home of the stark white walls of the Barefoot Gallery. When we meet Alex, he naturally gravitates toward a table backed by a wall which is a riot of colour with vintage signboards and number plates cutting an interesting contrast to the unassumingly placid man seated in front.
Glancing through his latest collection, it’s hard to imagine its creator is one with a visitor’s perspective of Sri Lanka. Rich pinks and exotic blues burst through the canvas in the many layers that create an almost 3D effect if you look close enough. In each painting a sly spider limbed “Andaré” floats, sometime crawls in the background. His face almost covered, you can’t mirror his gaze but you know he has a crafty trick up his tentacle arms as he peeps at the other figures through feathery garlands.
Alex’s love for Sri Lankan art, culture, the country itself is all too evident. The self-taught painter first visited the country back in 1993, having been invited by Dominic Sansoni while in London to showcase his work at Barefoot. Ever since, he calls Sri Lanka “my spiritual home”, making several visits over the last twenty three with this being his second stay in 2016. It’s a space that allows Alex the freedom he craves, a freedom that reflects in his whimsical, surrealist paintings.
The self-taught painter, DJ and illustrator began his career first as a hobby “but it just happened” he explains. His art has been showcased in London, New York and India but the soft spoken Alex finds himself regularly exhibiting his work in Sri Lanka, even taking time off once to work in his studio in Trincomalee.
Being self-taught, he feels, is more an advantage than a handicap. “I find an artist and read about them,” he says. His avid interest in Sri Lankan history and Persian art are evident in his eastern gothic style of painting. The only goal any artist would strive is to offer a universal story.
His current exhibition “A Parallel Possibility” does just that - the paintings form a continuing story, feeding each other as you walk along the room. The viewer becomes a tourist, following the maidens in printed saris, lovers and the ever-present fool over rivers, around lotuses and floating tuktuks.
“Parallel Possibility” an exhibition of paintings by Alex Stewart ends today December 4 at the Barefoot Gallery.
It was celebrity chef Koluu who was the face of the Double XL brand when they launched their newly refurbished Double XL store on Duplication Road Colombo 4 with their Live Large campaign. The store also launched a spectacular Red Carpet Collection for the festive season, emphasizing that living large can truly be a celebration of life.
Double XL, was conceptualised by Adhisha Dahanayake, herself a plus size to serve the ‘neglected’ plus size segment. Founding the store in 2010 with the support of her husband Priyan Senarath Gamage and brother Deminthe Dahayanake, Adhisha’s idea was to infuse the key elements of comfort, design and style into quality manufactured apparel. With the complete refurbishment of the store and the new collection, including Double XL’s own labels DXL and ADISHA, she says the reason she chose Koluu as Brand Ambassador is because, “Koluu, a well known personality among Sri Lankans, represents the concept of the plus size which is what Double XL emphasizes.”