Born in 1982, Elliot Francis Stewart is the third youngest of nine children and grew up in the Eastern Auckland suburb of Pakuranga. He spent his childhood engrossed in comic books and creating elaborately rendered drawings of galleon’s and scenes of war.
In 1996 his family relocated to the inner city neighbourhood of Grey Lynn and he attended the now defunct Auckland Metropolitan College, an alternative school where he met other contemporaries like Elliot ‘Askew’ O’Donnell, Tanja ‘Misery’ McMillan and his tight-knit crew of friends who became known as the RFC (Rat Fink Club) crew.
Initially garnering a reputation for his often offbeat cartoon-based graffiti, Elliot became part of TMD (The Most Dedicated) in 2001 and quickly established himself as the foremost talent in character based work in aerosol. Furthermore his early shows at The Gully Lounge in St.Kevin’s Arcade and Disrupt Gallery, allowed him to showcase elaborate and influential illustrative works often created on found objects in common house paint and ballpoint pen.
