For Seekers Of Meaning Travel Sketches from Sri Lanka
Reinhard Kleist’s strokes carry authority. His art lies in omitting; often also in expanding, curving, wearing away, keeping it rough. He shows temples, shrines, a bar or bakery, street scenes, bicycles, a naked light bulb illuminating a Buddha. Is this Sri Lanka, 2017?
When Reinhard Kleist draws, he tries to reproduce what he sees in a way that enables the viewer to develop a feeling for the place. From atmosphere and mood to things such as temperature.
In 1516, the capital, Colombo, was occupied by the Dutch. In 1518, Portugal also wanted the island as a colony; between 1796 and 1948, it was under British occupation.
A tsunami in 2004 killed 45,000 people. Sonali Deranyiagala’s memoir essay about the catastrophe “Wave”, which became a bestseller in the USA in 2013, is recommended.
Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam: ‘Sri Lanka’ (population: 20 million) means ‘venerable island’. It lies 200 kilometres off the southern tip of India. Between 1983 and 2009, a civil war raged between the Sinhalese and the Tamils, the island’s largest ethnic minority.
Stefan Mesch about Travel Sketches from Sri Lanka
Kleist’s 14 (often double-page) Sri Lanka drawings come particularly close to the aesthetic of several Kleist comic books: pronounced shadows, male bodies and faces, twilight. A good introduction!"
