Q: -You told me earlier about your "non-education". Most self-taught artists at least had some basic tuition but you really skipped everything?
A: - Yes, when I started doing what I do, it turned out just the way I wanted
right from the start, so art school would have been a waste of time. It might
be useful for others but for me it's useless. And, by the way, teachers and
professors can only teach what they know. If you want to know about things
they don't know you'll have to look elsewhere.
Q: -I wonder if most people would describe your paintings as belonging to the spiritual or mystical department?
A: -Well, I think we have to define the words "spiritual" and "mystical"
first, and that can take forever. These are abstract expressions, what's spiritual
to one person might be secular to another. The intention is not to produce
spiritual paintings. They paint themselves directed by me. If some people
would call them spiritual maybe it's because lots of things in this world
can be called non-spiritual.
Q: -I understand you get lots of questions about technical matters?
A: -Yes, it seems like it's more important to some people to know what kind
of paint I use and how the frames are made than what the painting itself has
to offer. There's nothing exciting about it, it's stuff you can buy anywhere,
oil, acrylic and enamel paint. The way I mix them might be unusual, but I
guess the end result wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary if I didn't
treat the material in a way it's not intended.
Q: -Is contemporary and 20th century art in general interesting to you?
A: -Not in general, no. It seems like the emperor is naked most of the time,
and it's hard to tell whether some things are worth $ 1 or $ 1.000.000. But,
you know, most of it is uninteresting to me, but that doesn't mean it's bad,
it only means it's bad for me. But I do believe that people would enjoy art
more if they simply asked themselves if they like what they see instead of
thinking about signatures and pricetags.
Q: -There are no titles, not even numbers?
A: -No, because my names or numbers would be different from the ones you or
anybody else would give them. If you want to think of them as representing
something that should have a name, go ahead call them whatever you want to.
But I mean, a painting called "Five trees and a cow" is likely to
depict just that. That's not the case here. Numbers are good for exhibitions,
you know, a pricelist would be a total mystery otherwise, but I don't believe
in chronology. They are what they are, and they are nameless.
Q: -So, you're doing what you're doing now (2006). What's happening in the future?
A: -What I know for sure is that I´ll keep on doing this work until
time's up. But it's not up to me, it's up to rest of the world and people
who like art in particular. I want to get paid just as much as you do.
