Anurendra Jegadeva

Anurendra Jegadeva’s art deals with a number of themes that branch out from the central issue of identity. He dips into his own Ceylonese-Tamil descent as a springboard to address wider issues; for instance, the disharmony between the Tamil Tigers and Sinhalese Monks in Sri Lanka (as illustrated in his Militant Monk (2001) series), whereas a slightly dissimilar type of strife is addressed in Tribute and Fat Jentayuh Lost in Geelong (both 2004).

Both paintings feature a male figure wearing a Balinese barong mask (traditionally used in dances) and are self-portraits after a fashion, featuring the artist’s own body placed within contexts that are at odds with the cultural symbol. In Tribute, he tunes into an iPod against a checkerboard background, whilst the other painting sees ‘Jentayuh’ (or, ‘Jatayu’, the demi-god described in the Hindu epic, Ramayana), retches, as if lost, in the unfamiliar urban environment of Geelong in Victoria, Australia.

These works confront contrasts, alienation, and displacement - all topics that pertain to the artist’s own life during this period.

Anurendra Jegadeva migrated to Australia in the late 1990s and these artworks mark the tail end of this sojourn. He returned to Malaysia in 2005, and similar emotions surfaced again. The large diptych, No Parking (2007), bears testament, broadly remarking that progress and globalization leave little room for culture and traditions, whilst referring directly to the demolishment of several Hindu temples in Kuala Lumpur a year before the artwork was produced.