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I got a taxi home a few years ago after the show and the driver, a very chatty Czech, told me heÌýwas an artist. We ended up talking aboutÌývisual art , with me explainingÌýhow I found itÌý quite tough toÌýdiscuss visual art on the radio. HeÌýwas enthusiastic and passionate, so much so that weÌýkept talking even after he pulled up at the house.ÌýHe drove off, I think I said something like "hope it all works out" and that was the last I saw of him. Until today when I walked into the , newly opened on the Lisburn Road. And met Tibor Cervenak for the second time. On the rightÌýhere one of Tibor's abstract paintings.

Today I discovered that he was a bit of a child prodigy, a talent for drawingÌýsaw him at the age of 14Ìýpick up passing trade from tourists who he would sketch.ÌýÌý"I earned more money than my father!" he told meÌý

Tibor moved to Belfast in 2004 to work for Maybins. He'd picked up an ad for work hereÌýat his local job centre inÌýthe CzechÌýRepublic. Ìý100 people were interviewed for the job. 25 were selected. Tibor was one of them. He was one of the first wave of migrants to come to Belfast, the new pioneers from Eastern Europe. ""People here had to get used to us and we used to life here", he said to me today. I didn't push it, what it must have been like to be from Eastern Europe then. The racist attacks, the resentment, the ugly race hatred that quickly bubbled to the surface.

He said he remembered picking me up that time.ÌýHe had kept taxi-ing to support his art, butÌýhad got himself an agent, got the interest of the local art scene includingÌýthe Emer Gallery in North Belfast, theÌýSafehouse GalleryÌýandÌýthe Royal Ulster Academy.Ìý But then he thought he had pushed himself as far here as he could. He went to Amsterdam and saw artists working in studios which also doubled as galleries. He was set to move there and then thought why notÌý he says "bring Amsterdam to Belfast! "

This weekend 60 people gatheredÌýto celebrate the gallery opening. The paintings on the walls are not all his. The idea is to showcase other artists too. And, as it is a working studio,Ìýthere are easels up, paint brushes in pots and a sense of work in progress.Ìý

I'm just really glad I didn't get the bus home that night.