When I Left The Royal

When I Left The Royal College, I Decided I Would Only Make Paintings That I Would Want To Look At Myself, That Felt Close To My Life.

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

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.

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.

I'm Aware That Success Can Overwhelm You. The Perception Of You Can Be Elevated To Such A Status That It's Not You Any More.