Like Joseph Mitchell, I would scour the streets of New York and find little pieces of what other people think of as junk - and collect it.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
There is no reason for me to show my collection in New York, because it's not about craft and technique there.
Everything in New York seems to merit preserving. If it's not historical, it's personal. If it's not personal, it's cultural. But you can't. You can't save everything. You just have to pack it up in your brain and take it with you when you go.
I struck upon this kind of crazy idea that I was going to go to New York and stop 10,000 people on the streets and take their portrait and create kind of a photographic census of the city.
I'd go stupid collecting and counting my money.
When I was living in New York and didn't have a penny to my name, I would walk around the streets and occasionally I would see an alcove or something. And I'd think, that'll be good, that'll be a good spot for me when I'm homeless.
I used to have a list of things from my school buddies of what kind of art material they wanted. I'd go up to the West End of London and spend the whole day knocking stuff off.
New York vintage is too expensive!
One of my timesaving habits is to save all of my magazines and junk mail for airplane trips. I walk on the plane with a very heavy bundle, but by the time the trip is over, it can all be thrown away.
In New York, I live on a compost heap of all the stuff I accumulate.
I would beg, borrow, and steal to live in N.Y.C.