“My paintings require a lot of planning and technique, the manipulation of material is very time-consuming. They are extremely rich and dense, and I want them to be entertainment. That doesn’t mean glib or superficial or saccharine: the ultimate goal of making art is making something truthful that you can get swept up in. I want my work to be spectacular, in the same way orchestral music can be spectacular. My paintings are melodic and have an expansive range of timbres, subtleties, nuances, and strengths, all exaggerated in large scale. I think about these in a performative way in relation to the audience. There is a strong sense of the absurd to my work, and the dark psychological context of the surrealists is related to what I do. My work is far more tongue in cheek though, and has a comedic aspect that comes out of some of the imagery, like the cartoon characters. It’s about play, but there’s nothing more serious than play.”