The whole strange process of making drawings and paintings is interesting to me. I can’t really explain why I do it, but I’ve always seen it as a way of understanding reality. It doesn’t much matter if the subject is a tree or a horse, or the view across a field – I’m never really any closer to knowing what is going on, but I am compelled to keep trying, like a caveman scratching on a wall. The relationship between abstraction and figuration is an ever-present factor in my work, as is the tension between art and more modern forms of creating images, like film or photography. I’ve noticed that people are often quietly enraged when they see one of my paintings: “That’s not blue!” they mutter under their breath; “That’s nothing like a horse!” More recently I have drawn inspiration from the German painters, who take a more relaxed approach. Markus Lupertz says: “When I present artworks there’s always someone who’s against it. […] What should I say about that? Nobody touches my work in my presence or else I’ll beat him to death. That’s just my nature. I don’t care if it’s the emperor of China or if it’s Arnold Schwarzenegger, I’ll come from behind with an iron rod. I’ll get him down.” I completely understand where he’s coming from.