How different is your day now working at home now as an artist?
I seem to have lost sense of the weekends. I also have very vivid dreams. The last one was of me walking around the city with a huge bunch of keys. It was held by a huge blue sea shell key chain. I also tend to eat less… two meals a day rather than three. I have started eating oranges though, which I usually don’t.

What’s on your music playlist, movie or reading list?
Bob Dylan’s album ‘Self-Portrait’ and ‘Yi Yi’, a movie by Edward Yang. I am reading a Phd thesis about post studio painting in China as part of external examining responsibilities for London university.

Have you taken up any new projects, like a new hobby? Or picked up an old project. 
I am relearning how to play ‘Cavatina’, theme from ‘The Deer Hunter’, on classical guitar. I learned it 10 years ago…it’s a bitch to play. It’s a very romantic tune but sad. I like sad tunes. I don’t like to be sad but I like sadness that does not involve me. I find it strangely uplifting. There are many implications about the deer being hunted. Spiritual and religious connotations of innocence, sacrifice and the inherent violence in human beings.

A recipe you might like to share?

Lazy Pasta
Fry garlic and chilli in some olive oil on medium heat till fragrant. Pour water on the fried garlic and chilli and raise to high heat and put your pasta in it. Cook till pasta is ready and stir till the liquid and pasta becomes milky.
Add basil and pepper. Ready to serve.

Shaanxi-inspired Noodles
Fry generous amount of ginger, shallots, garlic in some oil until fragrant. Add prawns and when almost cooked, add cooked egg noodles with sauce mixture (light and dark soya sauce, rice wine, chilli paste, five-spice powder) and toss well. Garnish with chopped dry chilli, crushed Sichuan peppercorn, chopped spring onions. Serves 1.

I have omitted measurements as I think everyone has a different sense of taste.

Quote
"You want to do something… So out of desperation you finally do something, anything – it doesn’t matter if it’s a good idea or a bad idea, you just have to do something. There’s a degree of anxiety and frustration that is a motivator to stop worrying about whether it’s a good idea or a bad idea and just do it."

- Bruce Nauman, in interview, 4 October 2004

What’s the first thing you will want to do the minute the lockdown ends?
I am not looking forward to it. Simply because it may be totally anti-climactic.

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