Mark Wroblewski , an Apex resident, has a calm and humble demeanor—but the display of his artwork does not reflect his soft-spoken nature.

The art community may recognize Wroblewski for his work displayed in the North Carolina Museum of Art—but the average N.C . State student would recognize him for his series of murals displayed in the Free Expression Tunnel.

“I’ll do fine art through spray-paint,” Wroblewski said, reflecting on his work on campus. This innovative combination of classical painting and street art may seem like a contradiction, but the mixed style is attracting Wroblewski publicity he never expected.

Wroblewski , who went to East Carolina University as an art major, drives to N.C . State to use the Free Expression Tunnel to create his spray paint masterpieces.

“The location’s good, and I just love working around people,” Wroblewski said.

He likes having a lot of students around because he enjoys the freedom of expression—not only his freedom to express himself on the wall, but the freedom of the viewers to comment, Wroblewski said.

“I like the fact that there are people passing by that can stop and give input; say I’m doing a good job or say I’m not doing a good job,” Wroblewski said.

Wroblewski said he wanted to be a comic book artist when he was younger, but upon discovering a passion for portrait work, he moved towards the fine art direction.

“I look back at a lot of classic work and old masters; Michelangelo, the early renaissance, the entire Italian Renaissance. Rembrandt is a huge inspiration,” Wroblewski said.

He has been to the Rembrandt exhibit in the North Carolina Museum of Art multiple times to study the exhibit, and even has his own painting on display in the museum right now; it’s a self-portrait in an exhibit called Self, Observed.

Wroblewski was inspired to combine fine art with street art by looking at famous artists who pioneered contemporary street art.

“I got into graffiti because of Banksy . He’s a big-name London artist… His street art is hilarious—it has really good political and moral points to it that, for the most part, I can agree with,” Wroblewski said.

Upon trying street art, Wroblewski found he enjoyed creating it as much as he enjoyed observing it. He said he doesn’t care that his creations are not at all permanent and actually appreciates their fleetingness.

“I like the fact that it’s really a spur of the moment kind of thing. If you work on something really hard it could be gone the next day,” he said. “As long as I have a picture of it, I’m content.”

One painting he is working on is the image of a tattoo artist.

“I took photos of one of the guys who tattooed me tattooing somebody else, and I’m taking some of those references and combining them and making a painting,” Wroblewski said.

He considers his style impromptu and unplanned.

“In terms of the Free Expression Tunnel, it’s really been random. It’s been whatever I can get my hands on,” Wroblewski said. His first paintings, he practiced by copying images off of the Internet. However, he’s moved away from that since.

“I take my own references now; I feel bad for using other people’s photos and taking some credit for it,” Wroblewski said.

Although Wroblewski considers himself his biggest critic, students have reacted positively to his work.

“I think the Free Expression Tunnel is a really cool thing because it allows so many of these talented people like this guy…to practice their trade and be appreciated by so many people that walk through there every day,” Dane Hall, a freshman in mechanical engineering, said.

Kathleen Shannon, a freshman in biological sciences and bioarcheology , first saw Wroblewski’s mural of a skull and became a fan of him on Facebook later that day to look at the rest of his paintings.

“I like his style, I think, that’s my favorite part of what he does. It’s a little different,” Shannon said.

Wroblewski uses social media to publicize and document the transient pieces he’s created.

“Before I started doing this I had maybe 40 likes, and since then I’ve doubled it, just doing spray painting… so it’s good publicity,” Wroblewski said.

This publicity from the Free Expression Tunnel has been good for him, as he’s up for hire to do wall murals. He said he also intends to go into merchandizing , making T-shirts, prints or even selling originals.