The flat is full of large colourful canvases, some with knife marks through them, others works in progress.
''Take the art out of the studio and it's just a concrete cell,'' Philip James Frost says (the moniker is to avoid confusion with another artistic Philip Frost).
Not that he minds the bare existence, preferring to live for his art and to paint. Anything else is a distraction.
''It is all-consuming. I live in the studio. I don't go out or anything anymore. I value my weekends, where I can ignore the whole of Manly and just paint.''
His job as a builder's labourer is mainly to get him out of his studio, where he is at present creating works 2sq m and larger.
''No-one knows I'm an artist here; it's refreshing. My boss tried to tell me I needed to do a masonry course. He thinks I'm just a labourer.''
The Dunedin painter has been living in Sydney ''on and off'' for a few years after gaining an artist residency for Blank Space Gallery that culminated in a ''sellout'' show, ''Don't die time''.
''When in Dunedin I didn't have much money, so I didn't own a paintbrush for five years. I just used to paint from the tube itself. Now I've got hundreds of them.''
He headed back home last year, holding a show, ''Crush'', at Gallery De Novo before returning to Australia.
He moved to Manly just after Christmas and describes the place as ''paradise''.
In June he produced ''This is Art'' in conjunction with Company of Strangers designer Sara Aspinall for her Exile! fashion collection in Auckland.
''The art was on the wall but not the focus. It made lots of money, though, so was worth it.''
He did not attend the show, which he was kind of relieved about, he said. He was not into promoting himself and was reluctant to chase galleries.
''Every minute I do that I could be painting. It's silly.''
Up next is a Sydney show, later this year, while shows in Melbourne and Auckland are planned for next year.
Frost does not work with a theme or line of thought in mind, instead going in whatever direction he feels like.
''The theme is kind of me. It's hard to describe. It's kind of missing the point to ask why. I mean, why do you play that type of music? It's instinct.''
Even at school, when asked to describe his work, he struggled.
''I got told off for it. People always want to find meaning in everything.''
It means his emotions often end up played out in paint.
''Sometimes it can be quite embarrassing; some days I'm sad, some I'm angry. It all ends up in some picture out there.
''If I see it a few years later, it could be depressing. I'd hate to think that it's just emotional rant.''
Frost does not believe in inspiration - ''it's just hard work'' - but sometimes his starting point comes from images in magazines or other media.
''I might draw or paint them and they evolve from there. Most likely they'll never look like what I started with.''
His painting style involves layering paint, as he often paints over what he has already done.
''There is always an accident in there.''
He is quick to admit that sometimes he goes too far layering the paint.
''I'm surrounded by paintings with big knife marks through them that I need to cut off ... and start again. It's really bad for the bank account.''
His paint addiction does not help either, he says.
''I think the girls at the paint shop think I'm a weirdo. I could go in and buy 20 [paint tubes] at once and use them all. But I limit myself to six a day.''
The popular culture around art does not appeal, as Frost sees himself as being in the game for the ''long haul''.
''Putting art on sneakers and clothes. I turn down that sort of thing these days. I want to make really good art.''
He has always painted because he loves it and at art school painting was all he did.
''I love all art.''
Growing up in Dunedin, his passions were surfing and skateboarding, but he gave them up because they ''took too much time'' from his art, which was greatly inspired by his home town, he says.
''New Zealand artists have been a big influence, like McCahon and Hotere. Some of the best artists I've seen have been there.''
These days it is much the same. He comes home from work and picks up where he left off the night before, often painting into the small hours.
''It's a bit of a sacrifice, but if I could change my life I wouldn't ... oh, maybe for Formula One.''
