Art

I still remember my drawing in grade 3. The old teacher really liked it and gave it 99 marks. She held it up and examined it. The truth is it was a weak painting even considering my age, but the other students were worse. Nobody took art seriously considering it a waste of time and a bad career choice. I was the only one simple-minded enough to have great enthusiasm for it. 

I left my small village school and went to a big school and found in that great school not a single person even meekly interested or having the slightest ability in art including the art teacher. But its cousin music was still very popular. You see everyone wanted to be doctors and engineers, but still wanted to sing at a social event to impress the others. But drawing and painting had no such value and parents discouraged children from it. There was an almost total lack of interest in art that pervaded the whole country.

But the trouble was I wasn’t a good artist. I had great enthusiasm for art but had only the skill of a mediocre draughtsman. But I kept drawing and painting even after I left school. Unfortunately, I could not find a job as an artist and instead decided on another career choice. With time I forgot all about art. But I felt that there was something missing in my life. Yesterday I went to Kalapola, the annual exhibition by artists near the Vihara Mahadevi Park. There were many people to view the artwork but in the time I spent there almost nobody bought any. It was obvious that some people there thought it was all childish. 

 It depends on who you are but I believe that things like music and art fill a place in at least some people's minds that would otherwise remain empty. But I know many perfectly happy people who are not interested in either - it is something that has always baffled me. But a few days ago I visited such a friend, who had retired from a highly successful career, and he seemed miserable. Only then did I realise the true value of art. It is the only work like thing  you do, not to be successful or earn money, or even fame but purely to be happy.