KOCHI: When his mother asked Sreeraj R to help around the house during the first lockdown, he used it as an opportunity to make use of his creativity. While he was drying the wash rice grains on the front yard, Sreeraj had a creative outburst. Fast forward to now, the youngster has made over 50 portraits, through ‘rice art’. A fine arts student at Radha Lakshmi Vilasam College of Music and Fine Arts, Thripunithura, Sreeraj believes art is not limited to paper or canvas, it can take any form.
According to Sreeraj, being able to create unique art is an artist’s biggest win. The 22-year-old has curated huge portraits of actors like Jayasurya, Prithviraj Sukumaran, Mohanlal and many others. “I started with four portraits of Jayasurya. I got a lot of appreciation for it from social media and the actor himself. I make rice art on a plywood plank. It takes a lot of time to make. I took five days to complete four portraits of Jayasurya,” he says.
Sreeraj won the India Book of Records in June 2021 for making a portrait of Prithviraj Sukumaran and his family using rice grains. “In the family portrait, I included his late father Sukumaran, holding his daughter Alli in his hands. It was an emotional gift for him and his family and they ended up liking it,” says Sreeraj who is now busy taking up commissioned rice artworks.
Now, many of his clients approach him asking to recreate family or group photos with their near or dear ones who passed away. “These rice art paintings cannot be framed as they are. So I take making videos and photographs of the completed work and share them with the clients who frame them. It takes a lot of patience. I don’t stick the rice grains rather stack them into respective shapes using my fingers. I am happy it is getting very popular,” he says.
But he did receive some criticism for wasting food during a pandemic. But once he completes the portraits, Sreeraj returns the rice to his mother. “A couple of days after I put these up on social media, they get attacked by ants. So I wash them and return them to the kitchen,” he quips.
His responsible art exploration is also visible through the recent water-mud portrait of actor Mohanlal. It was made in the front yard of his house in Kottayam. “Mother asked me to clean the fish tank in the house. When I threw the water on the ground, I got the idea to make water mud art. I made a portrait of actor Mohanlal by spraying and dripping the fish tank wastewater on the ground. It only stayed for five minutes, and then dried,” he says.
Sreeraj has also used tissue paper, spare nut and bolts, soap and even acrylic paint to make art. “I feel comfortable making portraits of people. I plan to use stone powder, vegetable colours and dry leaves as a medium to create portraits. I have been collecting my own leftover hair after each hair cut for the past three years to create one of my favourite Malayalam actors,” adds Sreeraj who also teaches art for children in his neighbourhood.