Irrix Screen, a local artist, has recently opened a public studio in the building at One Wolfs Lane.

Screen said he decided to move his studio to its current location because he found that for many people in the New York City art collectives he was previously involved with, making money was their main interest. While he did not have a problem with that, he was looking for something different. He decided to get a salon as opposed to a storefront to create a more personal touch. He said he would rather the people who come to see his art be attended to, not sold to.

Screen began to pursue art professionally after he was laid off from his job at Apple in 2011. He began with a t-shirt line which received a positive reception. He made paintings not intending to sell them until someone asked to buy one, and from there has continued to make a living off his work.

“Art has been just a gift from birth,” Screen said. “It was just recognized later on in life.”

Screen’s art features dark shapes and bold lines, and what is depicted is not often immediately clear to the viewer. A face he paints could be creepy to one person and happy to another, he said. He doesn’t mind this ambiguity.

“Perception is everything,” he said. “I’m okay with people not understanding what I’m doing.”

He found that for many, his art was not easily definable.

“Anytime I did a gallery, no one knew where to put me,” Screen said.

As a result, he decided to coin his own term for his artwork: “psycho-visceral surrealism.” He said he does not take many commissions because he enjoys creating what comes naturally to him. If he had a specific inspiration, then his art would become work, he said. There are many artists he likes, including Francis Bacon, Hieronymus Bosch and Francisco Goya.

Most of the clothes he paints on are vintage because they tend to be higher quality. He paints directly on them and then sells the items for what he would buy them for.

When it comes to his work, Screen said people often use phrases such as “opening his third eye” to describe what he is doing. To him, the most important part of his work is the connection and the emotion behind it.

“My art knows me better than anybody,” he said.

Screen is interested in being involved in more gallery shows, publications and museums. He also aims to get to a point where he has made enough money to be able to give back to the community. He wants to be able to donate to a school, he said, and fund a “creative study time.”

“Art is a very important and endangered species,” he said. “It’s a commodity that doesn’t trade well on the stock market.”