JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times

Brick Marunich stands in Brick's Soul Kitchen near a gallery he recently opened in Narrows. The name of the gallery was inspired by the song "Soul Kitchen" by The Doors, Marunich said.

NARROWS -- A working-class guy who paints the blues.

That's how Narrows artist Brick Marunich likes to describe himself.

Growing up in Philadelphia, Marunich never planned on becoming a full-time artist -- he's worked in a Chinese restaurant, spent years in construction, and was drafted into the Vietnam War, which cut short his dreams of playing for the Cincinnati Reds baseball team.

Marunich painted for 30 years before realizing he should do it full time, he said. He even met his wife, Lily, at an art class in 1976.

But two years ago, Marunich decided to pursue his dream and open an open-air studio and gallery in Narrows to showcase his art and the art of other area artists.

"I like to be my own boss," Marunich said.

The building that now houses Brick's Soul Kitchen was once a run-down garage with plumbing and lighting problems and covered to the roof with poison oak. Marunich removed the old garage door, replaced it with a regular door and filled the gallery with paintings and trinkets.

Marunich will tell the stories behind the trinkets -- that CD is on the table because he did the artwork for it, he won an award for that painting there -- and behind his current show, "Casa Grande," which was inspired by the two years he spent living in Arizona.

He also has a series inspired by his time in Vietnam, where he was wounded. In 1980 he had a severe anxiety attack, which he said felt like a heart attack. Afterward, he started painting about his experiences there, calling it therapeutic.

"He's very unconventional, but I really like his artwork because it's very thought-provoking," said Roxanne Elliot, president of the Giles Arts Council, of which Marunich is a member. "I think his work shows a realism most people don't portray in their paintings."

Elliot said that Marunich's gallery helps to promote the artists of Giles County, which is the same goal of the arts council.

"We love to have his gallery available," Elliot said. "He's very passionate about his art, and he has very unique shows."

Although he has his own gallery, Marunich said, he sells much of his art through the Narrows Art Gallery, a volunteer-run gallery on Main Street.

There is no real system to the way art is brought in, so one can never tell when Marunich might have art in the Narrows Art Gallery, said Joan Bowman, a Narrows Art Gallery volunteer. He just brings it when he has some to sell, and they sell it -- it's very informal, she said.

"He does a different style than what a lot of people in this area" do, Bowman said. "His art is more realistic, I think."

Marunich hopes to add a stage for poetry reading and musical jam sessions in the near future, which goes along with the name Brick's Soul Kitchen, inspired by the song "Soul Kitchen" by The Doors.

"That song is about a soul food restaurant," Marunich said. "I want to have food for thought."