I think the most important aspect of the ’80s was opposing them. The mainstream level of culture just left so much to be desired that the more interesting art was somehow in opposition to it, but not overtly political. I feel fortunate to have been in New York in 1990, to see the collapse of the high-end, commercial-gallery infrastructure and the surfacing of nomadic sites and experimental shows. I think most of my friends who were making art at that time felt a sense of incredible freedom. We were in our early twenties, and we weren’t interested in artistic refinement and packaging at all. Suddenly there was this huge void where people could just surface doing the things that they did.
—As told to Tim Griffin
