A new friend of mine introduced me to Modern Classical music, Xenakis and a few others. I had heard of Stockhausen in art school because he was known for his experimental music but I never really explored anything other than Phillip Glass, Brian Eno and Kronos quartet. I have been heavily into Brian Eno for years. Now I feel a new affinity for Stockhausen and Xenakis though with these composers they require your full attention whereas Brian Eno is the type of musician you can have in the background and write prose to.

This friend has also been quite inspirational because he introduced me to ink. I have never used ink for making visual art. Though I did spend years doing graffiti on the streets when I was younger. I have written about ink. I have exhibited sound works with computerised voices talking about ink (in my micro computer sound piece from 2013 called ‘expand’) but I never thought to actually use ink. So I made ten works on paper in ink. The whole process was interesting, the results were surprising as well.

Meeting new people is not always easy or inspirational. I have always found it hard to meet other artists who are not blinded by ambition, drugs or just don’t get what I am about. A lot of artists my own age are too busy to actually have a conversation because they are teaching or trying to produce work that is highly complex. Also I never really go to exhibition openings where most artists converse with each other. So it has been good to find a friend who isn’t bogged down in the daily grind of getting ahead. We both come from a graffiti background too so we can understand what we both do.