LOUISVILLE, Ky - In some coffee shops and galleries in the city, the vibrant work of a young painter comes to life. And it differs greatly from the landscapes and portraits garnishing most walls. On a single canvass one can spot the unmistakable face of Muhammad Ali, inches away from that of children’s favorite Spongebob Squarepants. Below multicolor, swooping lines down the cloth is printed a Louis Vuitton symbol next to the skyline of the city that has become the adopted home of the artist, DB KA$H.

“I grew up in church,” Explained KA$H, leading off our conversation with a description of his childhood. “I would be in church and they would start preaching and then I would just start drawing stuff.” He sat in his west-end studio admiring - or maybe critiquing - three partially completed canvasses.

KA$H doesn’t show his full face often. Since his pieces somewhat fall under the “graffiti” category, I asked if he had ever tagged before. He gave a wry smile while glancing at my camera and then quietly gave a partial answer to the effect of, “They were already covered at the time.” While the camera was rolling he switched between dark sunglasses and an industrial gas mask. The latter was purely used for work while he sprayed, drew, and stroked across his latest piece.

From what I gathered, that graffiti answer perfectly encapsulates KA$H’s personality; a millennial who grew up in blue collar Youngstown, Ohio and could likely have a conversation with anyone on any street in his new city of Louisville. His youthfulness and influences from Boston and Philadelphia street artists come to life in pop culture and graffiti on the canvass. On the other hand, his love and lifelong study of art provides inspirations from Picasso and Warhol.

I asked what he uses to create his work and he quickly scanned desk full of bottles, cans, and boxes. “Acrylics, spray paints, oil pastels, chalk, household enamel paints,” he listed. “So, yeah, I pretty much use everything to kind of create one mixed media.”

He says he works six days most weeks. He goes at his own pace and has a manager to keep him from getting bogged down with the business side of his art. But business is booming; so says Mo McKnight Howe, owner of Revelry Gallery in the NuLu neighborhood.

“Anything we’ve had of his has sold immediately,” She lauded. While I find his pieces visually stunning, I couldn’t help but wonder if art purists could also appreciate a little Mickey Mouse with their cubism.

“I think even people in the fine arts world respect this work because it is a part of the contemporary movement that we’re seeing throughout the United States,” McKnight Howe said. Downtown on Fourth Street, more of KA$H’s work is admired. At the Kula Gallery a handful of his abstracts hang next to pieces from one of the city’s most established artists. They’re noticeably lacking in color - mostly white and black - but still sold and admired; hanging alongside work from more established painters in the city.

“He’s actually the only one here that reminds me of the artists that I worked with in California, in New York,” said Jamie Lane, curator and manager at Kula. “I saw that in him when I saw one of his first works of art. I met him last year and I’m a big fan.”

The future, for KA$H, looks like one of his canvasses; ready for color and going as far as his mind will take it.