You cannot say ‘get real’ to an anti-realist.

You cannot say ‘get real’ to an anti-realist. You can say ‘get surreal’ which would imply that you’re wishing them a higher degree of imagination, in their engagement with life’s banality.

It takes a lot of guts, as an artist, to completely disengage from any visual reality. You never have to say ‘I paint what I see’ instead you just tell yourself ‘I see what I paint’ — implying that the act of creation is a meditation on the moment, and definitely not a tour around town to take in the sights.

Anyway, I don’t enjoy those magazine stories that encourage you to be a tourist in your own town. The act of belonging is a lifelong pursuit, that comes with discipline and internal silence.

I once walked into a church in the noisiest part of town. I was at art school and I needed a location for a photo shoot. The heavy silence bounced off the walls that were made of equally heavy stone. 

That’s where I first got the idea that artworks should contribute to making galleries into non-denominational temples of joy. Back then I thought of pop art as the stained glass window to the soul.