When I Left The Royal College, I

There's A Magic That Comes From Playing Entirely To Who You Are. I've Got My Specialist Subject - In The Mastermind Sense - And I Wouldn't Change It, Or Who I Am.

Sometimes, As I Feel A Door Or An Exit Point In My Work Is Closing, I'll Try To Create An Opening So As Not To Stifle The Creative Process, Which I See As A Process That's Never-ending.

I Was Listening To A Lot Of Hip Hop, Music Like Public Enemy That Was About Raising Consciousness, And I Realised I Could Feed That Directly Into My Work, Using Images In A Way That Was A Bit Like Sampling - Taking Images From Diverse Places, Exploring The Contradictions Without Trying To Hide The Seams.

When I Was Painting In Art School - And I Think Many Painters In The 1980s Worked Similarly - A Finished Painting Would Often Be Constructed From Lots Of Other Paintings Underneath. Some Of These Individual Layers Of Painting Were Better Than Others, But That Was Something That You Would Often Only Realise Retrospectively.

In The End, It Doesn't Really Matter What You Paint. It's All Just A Routine To Connect Yourself Finally With Other People.