When I moved to NYC and went to my first opening (Jedd Garet at Robert Miller).

we did the gallery with no money.

I suppose it was the rough conditions the gallery got by with is what seems kinda wild by current standards...

the wooden floor was all buckled up so we just covered it with grey indoor-outdoor carpeting, the walls were a mix of plaster and cement so they were just patched and spot-painted after every show which left a very interesting texture of scars, there was just the one single bright light-bulb in the middle of the ceiling, the broken toilet was our storage room... and the gallery was only about ten feet wide —although the ceiling was quite high so it somehow seemed chapel-like.

being able to invite artists who we admired like Louise Lawler, Ross Bleckner, Vito Acconci, Raymond Pettibon, Not Vital, Keith Sonnier, and so many others; gave us confidence in our own creative outlooks, and the companionship cemented our feeling of belonging in the established art world.

we were shown how to behave professionally, and to have confidence in following our own individual directions... and that no idea was too whacked.

I suppose Concept Art has usually been considered cold, untouched, and somewhat aloof.

I purposely attempt to bring a friendliness and a tactile, sometimes even artisan, quality to my production of ideas.

if there's a glint of humour that can be 'got', then that breaks down initial barriers to entering the denser layers of the work.

I attempt to produce work that is about life itself, and to share what drives me.

my objects and images communicate my personality, and the way I see the world... which is what I believe is the purpose of sharing your art.

I like to say I'm object orientated.

for myself, I regard paintings as objects, perhaps much in the same way as I objectified photography.

if I produce anything on a stretched canvas, regardless if it even has paint, I consider it an art object.

Cocchi 'Chinato Cocci' (Vino Aromatizzato).

...the Canadian art world

hmm, as much as I imagine my Canadian-ness comes thru in my work... the fact that I refuse to operate as a government artist with subsidies and committee approvals, that type of steroid dependency is not present in my production values or in my support system... my work is clean in that way, and outsiders might not recognize that government doping is not present in my performance of work.

I like to consider myself an artist with a global voice, and that my work can function anywhere and with most anyone... I wish to be known as just a Toronto artist.

of course I would say this decade.

as much as many would state my youthful dive into photo-objectiveness would be my most celebrated; as a senior with decades of production I recognize the maturity and scope of the work I experiment with now.

I have always worked in sets of series, seemingly going off in obtuse tangents... but looking back a conducive thread thru the work can be recognized, so in that vein of investigation and adventure I would have to say my latest work is always my best.

when it comes to art-making, I abhor the preciousness that others bestow onto art objects.

it seems a gimmick... any exhibition layout that includes a sparse number of works spread across a white expanse of real estate to me just screams an artificial posture of preciousness.

something becomes precious when it embodies a personal experience or contains a history.

personally I value my apartment and my ability to remain there well clothed, well fed, and well slept... and above all else, I value my health.

I'm forever grateful that I was so very fortunate to live in the East Village during such a creative and adventurous time.

I moved from Toronto to Avenue C in 1978, when cabs never went further East than Second Avenue, it really was a frontier... the Wild East.

Nature Morte was possible only due to us being there in the E.V. at a specific time in New York's history when everyday was risky, and individuality was embraced... our youth made it possible to venture unguarded and with spontaneity.

we were proud to operate our gallery in a fashion that avoided any East Village mandate, we just wanted a gallery with a New York voice.

that Nature Morte is still regarded with such genuine respect today, when actually it was only ever open for six years (82–88), is truly a wonder and a source of pride.

once I feel I've figured out the sequence of production and once the work has been shown, then I'm usually already onto my next investigation.

sometimes I wish my ideas would take a break so I could just stop and relax awhile, but when something hits me I feel I have to put it out there before something else gets in the way.

sometimes it has happened that when a certain body of work is a hit with people, that's exactly when I know to move on...

...Bad Bunny and Lil Nas X, and not much else

altho sometimes CNBC

one bedroom apartment