Art Lies, Volume 47, Summer 2005 Page: 40

86 x 127 inches
RO I want to feel emotion from something, and that can run the
gamut. But I also don't mind painting being presented within narrow
boundaries, like John Currin, who used to be one of my favorite paint-
ers. I do appreciate that someone can take on old, classic values of
painting, like portraiture and landscape and bring something new to
the table-where you're jarred out of a normal viewing experience,
whether that's part of a dramatic reaction or social or technical.
FF To be really good, it has to make me want to think about it, so
much so that I'm still thinking about it the next day or a week later.
AF I think it all comes down to belief. I mean, do you believe in this?
That stretches across all art. I think there are also people who are
attracted to two-dimensional things. Some people simply understand
things better when they are presented in certain dimensions. It's
about suspension of disbelief. Can you really accept it and believe in
it wholeheartedly? Sometimes it's just a scribble oldn a piece of paper
and sometimes it's something you think about for five years.
FF It's a quality of being genuine. I trained as a sculptor, so I always
feel guilty saying I'm a painterrred out oflike I've stolen the title or something.
But there's something about three-dimensional objects-you have
to deal with them in the real world whereas pant to thintings are in a dif
ferent world. There is a kind of distancing at work. It's also different

40 ARTL!ES Summer 2005