Discussing sexuality, sexual freedom

By Deshamithra Wickramasinghe

Freshly Baked is, according to the artist is a tangible version of a dream, an emotion and a thought in his mind, at different times. But for me it is dominantly a question or a statement of sexuality.
The exhibition of drawings of acrylic and charcoal on canvas Freshly Baked by Saman Liyanage will be open for the public till February 3 at the Theertha Red Dot Gallery, Pitakotte.
Looking at the pictures as a whole they can be called abstracted or distorted images of men and women, mostly naked, discussing bravely sexuality and sexual freedom.
But talking to the artist I find the drawings have no particular story to tell. “They are just visions I have in my mind and after sketching the images I develop them into a canvas,” said Saman Liyanage.

Confused sexuality

However to me the exhibition seems to talk about sexuality, and sexual freedom that’s popularly called ‘confused sexuality.’ One reason why I give this interpretation is because almost the entire exhibition highlights the private parts of the body. The bravely exposed male and female anatomy seems to suggest the sexual oppression society at large is subjected to.
This thought can be further elaborated by taking into account other significant findings in the drawings. One such is the absence of distortion of the sexual organs compared to other parts of the body depicted, which seem to suggest that sexuality has less freedom compared to other humkan attributes.
Another reason is to do with the series of drawings named Cricket. “The theme of these drawings first came to my mind seeing how players wear ball guards to protect their vulnerable areas from the ball.” Therefore the center of attention of the whole series seems to be the ball guard. Ball guard as medals, a ball guard developed into a bird and also an installation of a trophy using coloured ball guards.
To me this seems to suggest two things. One is a ‘tease’ against cricket players for covering their vulnerability in their fight for glory - in a way suggesting that the victory they gain by protecting their weaknesses cannot be counted. More specifically, the ball guard trophy seems to suggest that victory is of the ball guard, not of the player.
Secondly it seems to suggest the sexual oppression in a closely woven team where players are not allowed to connect sexually. Why I say this can be supported by two pictures in the series. One is a drawing of a man standing clothed with a ball guard medal in his neck suggesting that he subscribes to to the attitude ‘should wear a ball guard.’ At the same time another drawing shows a naked man, fallen, on the ground with all his belongings shattered around (including his ball guard), suggesting that he is rejected by society as a man with dignity or may be as a player because he isn’t wearing his ball guard.
However, one strong drawing to locate my argument is the picture of two naked women. In the drawing it seems to show one woman touching a breast of the other - a very sexual image. This seems to be the freedom the artist wants to feel, the sexual freedom to connect with who you like, than with someone society seems to approve for a male or female.