Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1162046
of one's childhood and the persistence of the images that you're first exposed to, and the strange ways that they appear anew as you age — and that they keep surprising you. In some ways, as an artist, I think you try to surprise yourself with images in the same way they surprised when you were a child. That to me is one of the motivations in exploring sexual things. I'm not making a comment on society's sexuality; I'm exploring my own feelings. I don't have any special knowledge, apart from being a person. And, in terms of speaking to people who have asked me about #MeToo … Being neither a victim nor a perpetrator, I don't think I have anything interesting or important to say. I would offer that I think the sexual revolution that started in the '50s and '60s has reached a milestone and is either reversing or something happened. I think it is very, very big. Much too big for me to understand. That's another reason I have an urge to make pictures — to ruminate over these kind of things. Your plans for when you're in town for the Dallas Contemporary opening. I don't know if my family's coming, because they have to start school. I don't know if I want to disrupt them. I'll probably be with Rachel, my wife. I'm just hoping the show is good. If I sleep in a sleeping bag in a closet, I just want the show to be beautiful. You've exhibited at the Frans Hals Museum in the Netherlands, juxtaposed with Dutch Golden Age painter Cornelis van Haarlem. What would be your next dream pairing from art history? Oh brother. My ambitions are more centered on making paintings. What happens after I make them is up to whether people like them or not. My big dream is to make a beautiful painting. Exhibiting is kind of a privilege after that. My ambition is what I'm going to make, rather than where I'm going to show it. Ideal day. Here in Maine, making something very nice in the studio, finishing by 7:15, walking down the hill, and taking a swim with my children. I've managed that about four times this summer, so it's not impossible. Most surprising about you. Oh gosh, I'm actually really, really, really focused on painting. I think I'm pretty boring outside of that. I like fast cars, and I like old movies, but basically it's all painting all the time. "John Currin: My Life as a Man," September 15 – December 22, at Dallas Contemporary, dallascontemporary.org. John Currin's Hot Pants, 2010, at Dallas Contemporary JOHN CURRIN'S HOT PANTS, 2010. 78" X 60". © JOHN CURRIN. PHOTO: ROB MCKEEVER. COURTESY GAGOSIAN.