The backgrounds by design are a very key part of the conversation, because I want a kind of fight or pressure to exist between the figure and the background.

At the same time I really enjoy painting flesh.

While I can hire out the portrait, I don't, because it's just - that's where I shine. You know, that's my blood sport.

In America, there's this type of expectation of just-add-water celebrity, this type of, "Of course you found me; we're all going to be famous for 15 minutes," sort of Paris-Hilton-ization of society.

I try to create a place of disorientation.

We're wired to be empathetic and to care about the needs of others, but also to be curious about others. And I think that's just sort of in our DNA. And so portraiture is a very human act.

What it is is a type of editorialization, you know? This is self-portraiture. This is what you think about the world we live in.