In 2003 he started a BA (Hons) Art History course at Liverpool John Moores University, where he won the Susan Cotton Travel Scholarship. He adopted the name Naive John in 2004 and founded the Liverpool Stuckist group. He adopted the pseudonym Naive John as a means of distancing himself from mainstream artistic concerns of being "relevant", "fashionable" and "cutting edge". In 2004 his work was included in "The Stuckists Punk Victorian" show at the Walker Art Gallery during the 2004 Liverpool Biennial. This exhibition was a definitive showing of the Stuckist oeuvre at a national gallery and marked a key point in the development of the art movement. In October 2006 he curated and exhibited in "Triumph of Stuckism". His painting " The Other " was the central image featured on promotional literature and attracted the attention of influential collector David Roberts. In 2007 Naive John was invited to exhibit his work as part of the Fellow Travellers touring group exhibition at Salford Museum alongside Holly Johnson and BP Portrait Award winner