A sheltered space for art
The street artists at the open air art gallery along Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha who braved adverse weather in the past to exhibit and sell their art work were provided with an open display location by the President on Wednesday (20) for their creations.
The boards were put up at a cost of Rs. 7 million by the Ministry of Provincial Councils and Local Government.
The street artists have been there since 2000. According to A.C. Nuwan Renu (37), President of the Open Air Art Gallery, two groups were behind the formation of the ‘ art street.’ The first group was made up of students from the University of Visual and Performing Arts, who started selling their artworks along this stretch of road as a way of earning pocket money during their studies. The second group was made up of independent artists.
Mr. Renu said improvements to the art street such as having display boards would help make such art popular among the public. He added they also hoped to introduce other items such as music and other performances to the art gallery to attract more people.
Dilrukshi De Silva ( 36) has been selling her artworks here since 2005. Ms. De Silva appreciated getting such display boards, pointing out that in the past, their paintings would get wet when it rained and they would sometimes have no option but to watch helplessly.
She added that the majority of the artists present at the location were from outside Colombo. As such, they have to bring their artworks to Colombo and back every time. “I bring my paintings in a three-wheeler. On many occasions, this results in the artworks being damaged. It would be great if we are given a place to store our paintings safely here,” she added.