I read somewhere that you were painting copies of the Old Masters as a kid in your dad’s garage. Is that true?

I started painting Old Masters when I was about nine years old. My father had a furniture store; he was an interior decorator, and he was really my first dealer. My parents gave me so much confidence and support. When I finished my first paintings, my father put them right in the centre of his showroom window. So in York, Pennsylvania, there’s several Old Master paintings out there. But the ‘Gazing Ball’ series of paintings and the bags are not just a copy of the painting. They’re a transcendence of that. It becomes something else. It’s about the idea of celebrating materials, they’re celebrating craft. And the reason for doing that is to be able to be generous with people, and to show how much they care about an individual. I do the same thing with the craft in my work. When I spend so much time and effort on the surface of a sculpture or the refinement of a painting, it’s because I’m trying to communicate to the viewer that I care about them, and that everything, all communication, is based on trust. And that’s in all of Louis Vuitton’s materials and craft too. heavy-handed. I just wanted something that could match the iconic quality of the Louis Vuitton Monogram.