• Howick and Pakuranga Times

SPEEDSTER ARTIST: Marcus Winter surrounded by his works, all of which only take a few minutes to create with his secret Indian ink mix. Times photos Wayne Martin.

AFTER hustling on the harsh streets of Columbia for six months, not for money or food but for knowledge, Marcus Winter returned home with his “Colonel Sanders secret under wraps” – the secret of performance art.

“At first the local artists there were reluctant to teach me anything, but I was persistent and patient and eventually they taught me a few things,” says Mr Winter.

While visiting family in South America in 2007, the 28-year-old stumbled across a new type of art form in the streets, where artists use a “special Indian ink mix” on hard gloss paper.

++QUOTE1++A piece of art, landscape or portrait, is completed in front of a crowd in a few minutes. Using his previous spray-can art experience, Mr Winter quickly acquired the South American art form and technique. “They were quite impressed that I picked it up so fast.”

Fast is the name of the game. As he’s no stranger to the speedy style of performance art, Mr Winter, of Botany, has already become accustomed to the fast turnaround per piece through his spray-can art, which has a similar duration to the South American style.