There is very little of exaggeration in Winnie Hettigoda’s art. Each art is simple, sparse, seemingly childlike, with its quivering lines and colours, but with a wealth of meaning that’s sometimes hidden, sometimes pretty straightforward. Sixty-four of the veteran cartoonist’s art works, spanning several decades of a distinguished career, were on display at Siam Nivasa, C. W. W. Kannangara Mawatha, Colombo 7, from December 12 to January 15. The work which was on display took its viewers ‘Beyond the Sight.’
Moving away from his comfort zone, Hettigoda has ventured into the domain of oil and acrylic paintings through this exhibition. Expertly drawn with fine strokes of the brush, these colourful paintings range from human figures to landscapes. However, the specialty about these works of art is that they embody more than that which meets the eyes.
For example, the painting titled as ‘Academic’ shows a white-coloured human figure which has a cage instead of a head. A parrot is seen entrapped in this cage. What Winnie means to say through this portrayal is that a majority of academics are not really learnt people. Much like a parrot, they merely repeat another’s ideas which they have picked up from a book.
Another striking art embodies the idea that when the sun sets, darkness will overpower everything. This message is dished out to onlookers when they see a young girl surrounded by darkness as she gazes up at the night sky filled with stars.
Beyond the Sight
“Though I have made a name for myself as a cartoonist, these paintings show another side of my talents. They may seem like landscapes and figures to many, but for those who think rather than glance through something, they embody meaningful messages,” Hettigoda explained the aim behind ‘Beyond the Sight’.
Indeed, even his portraits are poles apart from each other. Many of these have been etched in his mind after encountering people at common places like on the road, at the market or at a funeral.
“I paint them at home. It is a bit similar to the Police asking a person to get an artist to draw a suspect by describing him. The difference is that I myself have observed them and am drawing them. I do not like to term them as portraits or caricatures. I was planning to exhibit them separately under the slogan called ‘Visage’ at the exhibition. No doubt those who had actually met these people would be able to recognise them,” he added.
Hettigoda notes that though masses did not turn up for this year’s exhibition as they did in the past, his loyal fans did venture to the venue to support him.
“This is a time when people are facing many challenges. It is difficult to fill even a cricket stadium for a match so we cannot expect hundreds to come to view paintings. A large number of foreigners came to the venue so that was really heartening. At the end of the day, I realised that I should have held this event some time back. I was pleased to see that, true to the title of the exhibition, many who did come for the event, grasped something apart from that which meets the eyes,” he said.
Hettigoda has worked at a number of media institutions in his career as a cartoonist. His work had adorned Sunday newspapers like ‘Lakbima’, ‘Lankadeepa’ and ‘Divaina’ and tabloids like ‘Hiru’ and ‘Lakdiva’. Armed with a Second Upper for his Bachelor of Fine Art at the Kelaniya University and Master of Fine Arts, Applied Arts at M. S. University of Baroda, India, Hettigoda has even won the state prize for the best book cover for ‘Almedala Bola Gasathi’ in 1987. He has seen his work compiled into a number of publications.
Computer-based paintings
A former lecturer of the University of Visual and Performing Arts, Hettigoda served as the head of department of Multi Media Art at the Visual Arts Faculty of the Visual and Performing Arts University nearly two decades back. It is no wonder that he has mastered art in a variety of genres. His exhibition held in 2014 is a fine example of this fact. Titled ‘Digital Brush’ Hettigoda showcased computer-based paintings for the first time in Sri Lanka.
“Though there are a number of tools you can use for drawing on the computer, I still stick to the mouse. It is not as easy as drawing on canvas. The painting you are engaged in is elsewhere while your hand is somewhere else. The main challenge I faced was familiarising with this fact. I have overcome this obstacle now. The only drawback is that the lines of digital drawing are not as elegant as those you draw using a brush. Everything is made up of pixels on the computer. These resembles small squares. Therefore, a line cannot be thinner than a pixel,” he explained adding that he has even designed two Sinhala fonts for the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), Colombo. He had also designed and developed graphics and logos for a number of websites.
Hettigoda says that he has become weary of drawing cartoons now simply because the public does not take a lead out of it. They just commend on the beauty of the drawing but fail to touch the depth of the work.
“They admire the cartoon but go back to their roots and act contradictory to the message embedded in the work. Due to this indifferent nature of the society, drawing cartoons is meaningless. Cartoons are not something you draw for aesthetic pleasure. They have a bigger role to play in the society. They aim to change the mindset of the people by conveying messages. However, the society only adopts the messages that are agreeable to their practices and ideologies, not all those which have been drawn by cartoonists. For example, there were many cartoons drawn in history during President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s period. The society did not accept the cartoons drawn in the Government’s favour. People queued up to see cartoons that were exhibited against his rulership. Though the people were thoroughly against the Government during this era, they did not take act according to the messages conveyed in the cartoons,” Hettigoda said.
Growing with new technology
Queried if drawing cartoons is a dying art and he says it is actually an art form which grows with new technology.
“At the beginning a cartoonist could not make a living unless he had a newspaper to publish his drawings. It is a different situation today. Even if he is stuck in a room at home the whole day, a cartoonist is able to address the whole world! He or she can draw cartoons after getting information from the web on certain situations and post it on Facebook or on his or her own website. That cartoonist has a global audience rather than fans who read a particular newspaper. He or she has many international issues to address. Israel’s war on Gaza and the Russia-Ukraine war are some good, contemporary examples. New tools have been developed to make the job easier and more effective. Therefore, if you are talented and creative, you can achieve success. The Government in any country does not like to see cartoons criticising its leader being published for public viewing. Therefore, cartoonists do their jobs at a risk,” Hettigoda said.
He believes that thinking out of the box and trying his hand at new techniques have gotten him so far in the field and helped him excel as a cartoonist as well as a painter.
“My goal was to introduce something out of the ordinary and change people’s perception about art. That is why I chose to showcase my paintings in exhibitions rather than hold an exhibition displaying my cartoons,” he said.
