CV:25 year-old artist and Star Wars enthusiast Andrew Bracey was born in Bristol, but grew up mostly in Devon. Straight after completing an Art degree in Liverpool, he came to Manchester to do an MA course, and liked it so much he's still here. He and his fellow MA graduates - among them Susie MacMurray and Paul Horne - now populate Salford's Suite Studios, and are fast making names for themselves. Having exhibited in London's Gasworks and Stephen Lawrence galleries, Bracey's more recently featured in shows at Cornerhouse and Manchester Art Gallery. Noodle fans may even have spotted his work in Tampopo last Summer.

Influences:Bracey cites French painter Bernard Frize and American sculptor Tom Freidman as contemporary heroes, but most often he takes inspiration from everyday serendipity, transforming everything from plastic animals, nails and pistachio nut shells into works of Art. "I like just stumbling across things, or latching onto something that’s a bit odd. DIY stores and pound shops are a really big influence..."

He says:"My work's from a painterly background, but it's about the boundaries of what painting is, moving through painting and sculpture. Colour's really important to me as well - a contemporary colour that’s really bright and in your face, the equivalent of neon lights as you're going down the strip in Vegas. I like for people to go 'Oohh, look at that', so they're reeled in. And then when they actually look a bit closer, to get a different reaction."

On the local Art scene:"It's one of the major reasons for staying in Manchester. There's all different levels of people's achievement here, but everybody takes everybody else seriously. And galleries show local artists, which doesn’t happen everywhere else. There's a real confidence about being an artist in Manchester."

Now showing:Talk about accessible: Bracey's currently got a piece on show on Market Street, as part of Comme Ca's ongoing exhibition in Debenhams' shop windows. "I got asked to do Debenhams just after Christmas, so I wanted to do something that reflected on the feeling you get at that time of year, that post-Christmas low. I decided to use a Christmas tree, because they're very much the focus of Christmas, always dressed up really nicely. Then you see them out in the streets afterwards with all their needles gone, and they look really sad and lonely. So I've just painted the trunk. The trunk's really cheerful but the needles are falling off: it's sad, but happy..."

In the pipeline:Bracey's next project is one City Life readers can actually be part of. "I've made a little stack of postcards, and people are sending them back to me when they go abroad. I've left it open so people can write whatever they want on them. Ideally I'd like to get to a hundred: so far I've got just over half that. When I get them all back I'm going to present them really casual, so people can pick them up and look at either side of them and decide for themselves which side is the art. Whether it’s the picture, which most people would see as being a typical Art thing, or whether it's on the back - people saying 'Having a great time, see you when I get back' or talking about the project, or just talking total nonsense..." Any readers off on their hols who are willing to pop a postcard in their suitcase are warmly invited to contact Bracey by email at darthbra@hotmail.com.