SIYA IN LIPPIE!

A young artist has attracted attention with his arresting portrait of the Bok captain painted in lipstick

- SIPHOKAZI ZAMA

LIPSTICK is a great invention: it peps up the face, sparkles things up, adds pizzazz. But there's a lot more to this sassy stick of colour than face paint just ask a certain local artist who's become something of a sensation thanks to his love of lippie.

Ricollin Moodley is the guy who created a portrait of Siya Kolisi using nothing but lipstick - and after the Bok captain and his wife, Rachel, shared it on Instagram the young painter's profile soared.

Ricollin (23) was surprised and delighted. "I'm a little bit of a rugby fan," he says from his home in Shelly Beach in KwaZulu-Natal.

"More importantly, though, I'm a fan of Siya and his story.

"It reminds me a lot of the poverty and the struggles I've been through. Siya struggled but he made it to where he is today. I find that inspirational and I want to show others it doesn't matter where you come from.

"You just need to believe in yourself and use what you have.

Which is exactly what Ricollin did when he came across discarded tubes of lipsticks about a year ago.

"Somebody threw them away and I decided to use them. In my mind anything can be used to make art and I wanted to see what could be done with lipstick.

Quite a lot, as it turns out.

Lipstick is a great medium, he says, because of its pigment, but it can be tricky to work with as it melts quickly so he needs to work fast. Ricollin first sketches an outline of his artwork in pencil and then fills it in with lipstick.

His portrait of Siya took "three or four days" to complete, he says, and it's the biggest work he's done with lipstick so far.

"It took so long because I was also recording myself, as people enjoy seeing the process of art being created, but they don't always believe I've done it with lipstick.

Once the work is complete he sprays it with a sealant to help it dry and preserve it.