Deisis started as a quick clay sketch of a live model. The pose had been set by someone else, and I found it fascinating - Did it convey prayer or despair or thanks? The undefined narrative allows each viewer a different projection of the self, for example: when displayed outdoors for my Mykonos solo show, some observers took related it to a hangover. As to process, after the natural clay was fired, I took the piece home during the New York Covid-19 lockdown. I worked at my dining table with 2 part epoxy clay to transform the figure, tapping into imagination and memory. Although many of my figures are directly inspired by historical precedents, this one could be said to be indirectly inspired by some of the great French neoclassical works of the 19th century, for example, Aristide Mailliol's La Nuit (1902; later cast including at the Metropolitan Mueseum of Art) or Hippolyte Flandrin's "Nude Youth Sitting by the Sea" (1835, in the Louvre) itself influenced by his teacher Ingres' Oedip...