This artist uses pen refills to make replicas of monuments

Hyderabad: There’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. This is what artist Sreenivasulu MR has been proving over the past 15 years. Using plastic pen refills, the 32-year-old software engineer has been making some mind-blowing miniature monuments. Currently working in Bengaluru, Sreenivasulu’s latest piece of art is Jaipur’s Hawa Mahal and he took 15 […]

Hyderabad: There’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. This is what artist Sreenivasulu MR has been proving over the past 15 years.

Using plastic pen refills, the 32-year-old software engineer has been making some mind-blowing miniature monuments. Currently working in Bengaluru, Sreenivasulu’s latest piece of art is Jaipur’s Hawa Mahal and he took 15 months to complete it using 900 plus pen refills which he cut into 13,246 pieces.

His latest artwork has entered the final round of Lexus Design Awards India (LDAI) 2022 and the virtual award ceremony is scheduled today.

Sreenivasulu says, “Since childhood, I’ve been practicing painting and trained in classical dance forms like Kuchipudi, Bharatanatyam and Yakshagana. I used to also make miniature houses using wedding cards and dreamed of pursuing a career in architecture.”

However, he was pushed to pursue engineering. In 2007, he used some pen refills he had collected in childhood to make a miniature Eiffel Tower in about eight months. “”I felt happy repurposing the plastic that had accumulated with me. While in college, I used to ask the management to place pen refill boxes on the campus and would promote sustainability among fellow students,” says the artist who was born in Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh.

Sreenivasulu has, so far, made monuments of Charminar, Big-Ben Clock, Taj Mahal, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Gateway of India, Seattle Space Needle, Sydney Harbour Bridge, St Philomena Church and Amritsar Golden Temple. His next miniature monument is going to be the Hampi Stone Chariot.

“I have been sourcing my raw material – the refills – from various schools across the country. I indulge in a lot of research on the architecture of the monument before starting my structure. I do not use any machinery and I spend a lot of time sorting the refills based on their size. If there are ink marks on the refill, I slice them into two halves, clean and polish them and use them for carvings,” shares Sreenivasulu, who claims to be the only artist doing miniature monuments using refills in the entire world.

The Telugite says his aim is to promote the ‘Say No to Plastic’ initiative, promote tourism in India and also fulfill his passion of being an architect.

Sreenivasulu, who is an India Book of Records holder and has exhibited at various exhibitions, wants to open a museum for his miniature art in the near future. “In the longer run, I want to teach miniature art to children. Pen refills are the most ignored form of plastic, so I want people to become conscious of such plastic and help in recycling,” he concluded.

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