Best known for his portraiture, Jimmy Black's style has been described by critics as "like a plasterer on amphetamine." He prefers the term pseudo-expressionism and points to his colour blindness and bi-polar disorder to explain his style. "This is just how I see the world," says Black, "it's during manic episodes that I'm driven to paint with these frenzied strokes and intense colour. I love the immediacy of acrylics and working big means there's space for bold, expressive strokes as well as those more delicate details that bring things into focus."

Most of his friends have modelled for him at some time or other. One of them explains, "I wasn't sure what I was letting myself in for - did I want to be immortalised with blue skin? - but I was surprised at how sensitive the finished painting was. When I posed I was trying to smile the whole time but he picked up on something deeper. It's weird to be confronted with that on canvas."

After a year of college in the shadow of Lincoln's fine medieval cathedral, he headed to Newcastle where he studied Art at the University of Northumbria. "I lived in the city for a few years when I was younger and it was great to go back. It's not the sooty wasteland of popular imagination. The centre, especially, is postcard-pretty. But it's the inhabitants that make it special, it's a really welcoming place."

Having lived all over the country, Black settled in Scunthorpe, an industrial town known as much for its social deprivation as for its vast steelworks. The town has been struggling for a long time. "Since the recession the centre has died. It's endless rows of bookies, pawn brokers and boarded up shops. You just get this sense of hopelessness." says Black. Nearly 25,000 jobs have gone at the steelworks since the 80's but it's still the best chance most people have of employment. Competition is so high that a lot of young people are resigned to a future of unemployment. "That's why I became a youth worker. If these kids are going to realise their potential they need all the support they can get."