SANKHĀRĀ

AN EXPLORATION OF COMPLEX THOUGHT-PROCESSES THROUGH CERAMIC SCULPTURE ART

- BY KAMANTHI WICKRAMASINGHE

In her latest exhibition titled Sankhārā, which in Pāli means formations or volitional formations especially with regards to mental processes, ceramicist, painter and sculptor Asela Abeywardene attempts to incorporate your thought-processes into ceramic sculptures. Amongst various sculptural mediums, Abeywardene specializes in ceramic art as she believes that a ceramic artist needs to learn to let go of control at a certain point and to be accepting of natural phenomena.

In a recent interview with the Daily Mirror Life, Abeywardene spoke about the inspiration behind her latest exhibition and sculpture art in South Asia.

Excerpts;

Q TELL US ABOUT THE INSPIRATION BEHIND YOUR LATEST EXHIBITION?

From the time we are born, every living moment is spent on creating layers and layers of thoughts in our minds. At times we are aware of these but most times we are not. This collection of sculptures is an attempt to capture this intangible and illusive concept and present it in a tangible, apparent manner.

The simplified, minimal, abstracted human figure represents 'life as we know it': how we spend our lives in pursuit of contentment, although we are hardly ever truly content. We adorn ourselves with achievements, one after the other, but more often than not, we are unable to find true peace. The decorated, 'adorned' figure is a representation of this undeniable human condition.

The figure is integrated with an abstracted vessel which indicates the formations of our minds. These vessels, though seemingly solid or concrete, contain nothing but emptiness. Often when we peel the layers of our thought processes, what we discover is only emptiness or nothingness.

It is this reality that I endeavor to present, with this collection.