It was a difficult choice
because it was left open to me that I could show anywhere in the National Gallery.
I didn't want to just choose something that was perhaps similar to my work
or could be compared directly
because I didn't think that was a good idea.
I also just spent a lot of time thinking about where
and I did come back to the Spanish room a lot.
This was the thing that I was quite worried about
that it would just not work
and I actually felt, nevertheless, that I would do this and choose this room
because I think the risk is an extremely important part of the process.
The risk that either it works or it fails means that if it does work
then it's much more on an interesting edge, let's say
than if it was always going to be fine.
It's not just about doing it because it's risky
but the fact that it's risky adds a certain importance to actually going through with it for me
because I suppose I believe that experience I have of transgressing a boundary of my own
will somehow come out in the work as a strength.
I guess I get a starting point for a painting from a variety of sources.
The initial impulse to make this came from a film still of Ingrid Bergman
and it's actually from a home video that she made.
In the image she's in her swimming pool with a big Magnum of champagne,
Mumm champagne,
so I love that image.
The composition of this painting came from a painting which is in this room
which is 'The Boar Hunt' by Velázquez.
Instead of the tree that's on the left over there
I put in the back end of a sheep.
In this case it specifically relates also to the sheep in a painting next door
which is by Ribera.
There were three starting points here.
There was a photograph of a friend of mine wearing tights.
Actually, I had to make her quite a lot wider in this painting
in order to fit the other figure inside.
I decided to fit this figure
which is from a little Rodin sculpture of a ballerina, of a dancer.
The other thing was that I just wanted to put these two blues right up against each other.
It's a very weird, kind of satisfying difference and I just wanted to see what would happen there.
It's hard to say if it's affected my career
because of the context that we're in right now, with the pandemic and the museum being closed
in a way it's been a private experience for me.
I was having tours with curators from different parts of the collection
and that was massively influential on me
because I started to feel a lot more comfortable in the museum.
To actually feel settled in front of a painting
and talking and learning a bit about the artists, the context, the time
that reminded me that all of these artists were artists.
They weren't always masters
so it's allowed me to sort of put myself into a lineage of artists and say, "Okay, I'm here now."
Because I'm excited about it and I don't feel crushed by the experience
that means that I've grown as an artist quite a lot
so in that sense, yeah, a big development for me
and in fact, it's an amazing privilege for any artist to be able to do that.