“I don’t like to be restrained by paint or oils or water colour or anything like that,” the 21-year-old said.

“I’m a Jack of all trades, to be honest, and a master of none.

“Between  spraypaint, aerosol and water-based acrylics, which is what I normally use on canvas, I don’t like to be held down …  I use as many different things as I can to produce what I want to produce.”

He mostly works on canvas and walls when he can. 

“Walls are a lot harder to find,” he said.

He is a self-taught artist who has been drawing since early childhood.

“I haven’t been to TAFE or uni, but I plan to. It comes down to cost,” he said.

Art has always been a way for him to express himself and “get out what’s in my head”. 

“I saw people liked my art and were prepared to pay for it, possibly,” he said.

“That’s when I decided I needed to get out and do something serious about it.”

Local street artists have been a big influence on his work.

“It’s what I grew up looking at, especially down at South Newcastle when they had that legal wall,” he said.

“I spent every week there looking and admiring.”  

But he has also been influenced by more traditional artists, especially impressionist artists. 

“I have been doing an awful lot of finger painting lately,” he said.

“Very blotchy and almost Jackson Pollock like in the splatter and I won’t cut back and clean up and smooth, and I leave it as rough as it is for that effect, (the) popping that it brings.” 

“I also always liked the works of Brett Whitley … his use of colour and you know it’s his stuff … just the fact if you see it you know it’s his.”

A one night only exhibition titled RAW will be held at Central 145, 145 King Street, Newcastle, on March 30. It will include works from more than 40 visual artists. There will also be live performances.