KOCHI: Based in Neyyattinkara, artist James who goes by the pseudonym ‘Silpi’ is now highly reckoned for his portrait cutouts. The portrait painter has been regularly approached for making huge painted cutouts, with his last one being for Mohanlal-starrer ‘Pulimurugan’. At a time when printed flexes are most commonly seen and preferred, the artist feels his works are special for the same reason. Says James, “I used to paint right from my school days and also used to take part in competitions. Portrait painting have always been my forte from the beginning.” At one point of time, the artist even used to make portrait paintings by looking at newspaper advertisements.
He used to make cutouts on plywood for shops and also for theatres in his hometown Neyyatinkara. But it was after James did cutouts for the film ‘Manichitrataazhu’, ‘Hitler’, ‘Oru Maravathoor Kanavu’ and many other consecutive movies at the theatre ‘Thameens’ at Neyyatinkara that he got noticed.
He states, “Right after I completed a huge cutout for ‘Alibhai’, actor Mohanlal, who was shooting in the city, happened to see it. Later on after he did the cutout for the movie ‘Harikrishnans’ in 1998, James was approached by Mohanlal fans association to create cutouts and portrait flexes for his movies in the capital city. Ever since then he has done flexes for ‘Narasimham’, ‘Ravanaprabhu’, ‘Vanaprastham’, ‘Olympian Anthony Adam’ and some more. Having done a 50-feet work for the movie ‘Sagar Alias Jacky’ at Sreekumar theatre in the capital city, his latest work is a 60-foot one for Mohanlal’s recent release ‘Pulimurugan’.
James runs a flex printing company ‘Megaflex’ at Thampanoor. The company was inaugurated by the actor.
James doesn’t feel creating portrait cutouts is a small task. He states, “It is not a work which keeps you indoors. Instead the paintings of noted personalities and people do admire them bring you close to the public. Besides, I make oil paintings in my leisure time. This is also one of my passion.”