Folks walking in the 3600-block West 4th Avenue in Vancouver this summer have been stopping dead in their tracks outside The Room, Flitt's hair salon / artist's studio. The sights and sounds are pretty weird and wonderful. In the window. there is a large sculpture whose elements include fire extinguishers, steam irons, toasters and high-heeled shoes. Inside, the walls are draped with Flitt's huge paintinged works of "high realism" that reflect the struggles of male-female relationships. Then, from time to time, there are the classical sounds of Flitt's cello wafting out the door as he takes a musically meditative break from his two livelihoods.

For three days each week, Monday to Wednesday, the 27 year-old British expatriate can be found at the rear of The Room, putting paint to canvas. Thursday through Saturday, he busies himself clipping clients' curls.Flitt, whos a self-taught artist, says he was ready to pack in his painting last year when he convinced himself that I was never going to be a great anything In particular. "But as soon as I made that admission, my work just took off. I felt more comfortable and I started attracting attention. I was braver because 1 wasn't trying to hide anything."

Boyishly handsome, with curly hair and a stubbly beard. Flitt says both his vocations have flourished since he moved into The Room last May. He's sold about a half dozen paintings, going for anywhere from $2,500 to $3,200 Flitt says that some of his new coif customers take a look around The Room "and their first concern is that I'm going to do something wild ... but the majority of them just come by and enjoy."

Flitt was born and raised In London where he developed an interest in art by hanging out at the National Gallery and the modernist Tate Gallery.Steuck figures prominently in most of Flitt's paintings, which are rendered from staged photographs rich in symbolism.   Buying props for the photograph $500 for purple velvet in a recent painting $800 for taffeta and $900 for 20 pairs of stiletto heels in an upcoming work - keeps his budget stretched. If I gave up painting and devoted all my time to hair styling I'd be driving a current-year BMW he asserts. While he takes his painting seriously, he says his sculptures "are like the back swing of that, a nice release."He says his next sculpture will feature a cheetah's head and a metal brassiere fitted with gas jets that "I shoot out flames every 12 minutes. It's a satire on women's empowerment in the '60s, the bra burning and all that." he says with a twinkle in his eye.