The fourth Worcester Community Fridge, featuring the designs of 23-year-old Dominic Killiany, is now ready for use on Brooks Street.

Killiany, who is autistic, was chosen for the job based on his work within the community and his connection to Community Health Centers in Worcester. He spent four hours working on his creation, painting the solar system, tying each planet to one another with a dashed line and writing their names in block letters.

“I was in tears. He was happy,” said Susan, Killiany’s mother. “He used every tube [of paint] that was available.”

The community fridge offers free food 24/7, donated by community volunteers and donors, to anyone who needs it. The three other fridges are located on Main Street, Portland Street and Southbridge Street.

Killiany gets his artistic genes from his maternal grandmother, said Susan, who is an artist herself. Killiany’s grandmother, who just turned 100 years old, started to draw and sketch when she was just 9 years old.

“I feel that she passed that on to the family,” Susan said. “Dominic has a piece of her.”

Susan also shared that Killiany brings a love of numbers and technology to his art.

“Dominic is certainly a genius and maybe even a savant,” she said. “His paintings incorporate numbers and symbols and coding on some level.”

As a kid, Killiany was enamored with street signs. He would see them on car rides with his family and replicate them perfectly in chalk at just three years old. His signs would be intricate, as well, stating things like, “Stop. Pesticide application. Don’t walk on grass.”

He started with paint by numbers when he was 14 years old. His first painting depicted a locomotive, and Killiany’s interest in painting grew from there.

“I believe the way he could visualize the painting by number like a puzzle piece is how he would later gravitate to getting his own canvas that he would sketch to a T,” Susan said. “He would even sometimes put his own numbers into it.”

Killiany had his first art show at the Watertown Public Library in 2014. The exhibit included his own work as well as some paint by numbers. Susan saved all of the paintings, holding off on selling them until his next exhibition.

“I was so enamored by his work that I had to save it,” Susan said. “We were blown away.”

In 2017, Killiany’s work was shown at the Landau Gallery in the Belmont Hill School. The school was impressed.

“The art department sought him out. They were floored,” Susan said. “They said that in the 25 years they chaired the exhibit, they had seen nothing like Dominic’s.”

The following year, Killiany’s art was part of the Open Door Art Gallery in the Worcester Art Museum. Killiany addressed around 150 people, speaking to his work and thanking the people that helped him. In the fall of 2018, the exhibit moved to Boston.

“He’s a true artist,” Susan said. “He’s evolved with his paintings.”

Looking forward, Killiany’s work will soon be a permanent fixture in Cambridge. Danehy Park will host a new school for children with disabilities, and the vacant land next to the building will be a playground featuring Killiany’s “lyrical, whimsical, and childlike” art.

“Cambridge asked Dominic to use his designs to be integrated into the playground,” she said. “Seven of his works have been chosen, and they will be sprinkled throughout the playground. We are very excited.”

Killiany’s work can be found at www.dominicreations.com.