When I first started painting candyland imagery, I was looking for the best possible metaphor for everything that is pleasure, desire and insatiability.

In a gallery, there's an expectation of high prices and a somewhat elitist atmosphere.

People's love of sweets and guilty feelings about overindulgence are pretty universal.

Smells are so powerful and evocative, sometimes stronger than visual cues.

As an artist, it's possible to get tired of yourself.

In terms of the class structure that you see so much in European portraiture, I don't think one feels that in America in the 21st century. But we have these other kinds of social structures now, like celebrity, who establish new hierarchies.