Quintadagio - 71

My life as an artist is full of contradictions.I actually think we all have this in common, but it's often the case that we feel we're the only one. I mentioned that I use humour and knowledge as a disguise. Knowledge is easy, i love accumulating useless facts...try playing me at Trivial Pursuits ! For humour however, I have learned at an early age that people view you differently if you can make them laugh.

One day whilst sitting at my school desk I must have been about 9 years old in Miss Parr's class. I was making silly noises much to the amusement of classmates at my table, and launched into an impersonation of a gorilla. Miss Parr heard this and in an attempt to shame me said "would you like to come out in front of the class and share what you've just been doing?"...Much to my amazement, I said "Yes miss"...I stood on a chair at the front of the class and did my gorilla impersonation to the best of my ability. All eyes in the class were upon me and when they all laughed, it was like an electric shock...I felt alive ..it was such a buzz.

I've never felt a need to become a stand up comedian...but tell a few jokes, make a few silly noises and sing a daft song, you become a different person...and this is easy to hide behind!..the contradiction is that i long for people to know the real me...my artwork is a sort of roundabout way of revealing what is hidden.