Art college is full of such a load of rubbish, from the other students and the tutors, it’s up too you to emancipate yourself from all of that and make it your own way. There is a lot of dull dull art out there and a lot of dull gallerists, critics and curators, eventually this inspires you, you just think ‘I’ll show them’
I’ve realized the importance of commercialism. Just because you make something that can be sold does not have an impact on its conceptual power, after all artists have to live. The art world is full of trust fund kids that have little motivation for making art other than boredom and credibility. The real test for me is being true to my practice and still finding avenues to make an income from it, the type of work that I make doesn’t tick the boxes of the funding authorities in an obvious way (if you want to do that in Scotland make work about being Scottish or people in wheelchairs, or really abstract work that doesn’t mean anything to the artist or the audience) so I have never received any help this way. Instead I make t-shirts, cards, badges and I’ve just started to work as an art director in film and fashion. Luckily some galleries in London have spotted me in the last year so finally I can sell my work in places that give it the right context.