I figure if you have one person that loves you, that's enough, growing up. You just need one person in your corner.

I have always been very intrigued by the outside of buildings. I can just walk down the street and be content with watching facades. I don't have to go inside.

The narrative oftentimes is that everything that comes out of the hood is 'real,' and so I thought, 'I'll base it on the absurd, the not real. I'll twist the idea of real on its head and see if I can get away with it. I'll make paintings that come not from a place but through an abstract gaze.'

The police pull up in back of my car and run my plates - they don't see you as you are; they see you through a racialized negative gaze. I think the best thing is not to internalize it too much, or it'll make you crazy because you know it's going to happen again.

My main motivation is not to get bored. I'm just hoping I get a vaguely maverick reputation.

I'm fortunate enough to take care of my family and provide for them, and that motivates me to keep going.

I tend to look way back for my inspiration: H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allen Poe.

I do love being amongst creative people and facilitating that and being inspired by people. I get very bored with just competence and require inspiration all around me.