Local self-taught artist, Ricollin, uses makeup as medium of choice in painting meticulously detailed portraits of South Africa’s biggest stars – including the nation’s Rugby World Cup winning champs, and Joburg-born global artist, Tyla.
Ricollin, who is 22 years old and hails from KwaZulu-Natal, first started his journey with art in 2017, learning to draw as a means to earn an income to help his family financially.
Every artist knows the steep costs associated with purchasing supplies, and so in 2022, Ricollin found a more sustainable way to keep his passion for art alive, using discarded makeup as his medium of choice.
In conversation with Briefly News in 2023, Ricollin said that enjoys painting with unconventional mediums, such as food colouring and coffee.
“I’m always trying unique ways to create art because I also paint with coffee and food colouring. When I came across some discarded lipsticks about a year ago, I knew it was an opportunity for me to try something with them.”
Ricollin proves that art knows no bounds, adding in his interview with Briefly that anything can be used as a medium – you don’t need expensive oil paints and a set of the finest brushes to pursue a passion for art.
“In my mind anything can be used to make art so I wanted to see what could be done with lipsticks, I want to show others that it doesn’t matter where you come from. You need to believe in yourself and you need to use what you have.”
Ricollin has painted several portraits of some of South Africa’s most admired personalities, including the likes of Springbok players Eben Etzebeth, Cheslin Kolbe and Siya Kolisi, as well as Siya Kolisi’s wife and Springbok’s first lady’, Rachel Kolisi.
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“Painting Captain of the Springboks Siya Kolisi with lipstick. The end result is so cool, my biggest lipstick painting so far.” says Ricollin, in an Instagram reel of his process painting Siya Kolisi.
The artist also paints rugby champs Cheslin Kolbe and Eben Etzebeth using only lipstick:
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In response to the artwork, Kolbe commented: “Pure Talent thank you so much 🙏🏻🔥”
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In response to the lippie rendition of her hubby, Eben, Anlia Etzebeth commented:
“Wow, absolutely incredible! You are so talented!!!!👏👏👏👏👏👏”
Most recently, Ricollin painted Rachel Kolisi in his medium of choice, marking the first of his works for the New Year.
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Rachel praised the self-taught artist for his talents:
“Unreal. And so honoured ❤️”
We’ll be keeping a close eye on the young and upcoming artist’s stellar work!
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Feature Image: Instagram / @ricollinart_official
