The hoop is there to remind us not to jump through it, not to submit to someone else's control.

The original item looked like a little hand cart with the figure of a man mounted on a platform between the wheels. The man's outstretched arm always pointed south.

It inspired all sorts of whims and fancies that I ultimately wove into a fairy tale complete with muse, the earth, the moon, some famous inventors, a dog and a rabbit.

The chariot was purchased by a private collector who took it home to New York. I take pleasure in knowing that it was built to last for at least a thousand years.

In the fairy tale the painting represents the here and now. The book is actually divided into five sections, through which the key character, the muse, leads us.

I started by looking at what others had done before me. You see, over the years there have been attempts by many different people to reconstruct the chariot.

If we listen human instinct actually tells us what we need, but advertising makes us want things we don't need and things we can't have.