Paul Graham

I don’t really think that where my passport is from plays such an important role. I have a live-work space in New York, I barely go out, and if I do I barely leave the neighborhood. I don’t take part in normal city life—I don’t go to work or the subway, I don’t go uptown much. So when I do go out, it’s a shock—when I’m suddenly in midtown watching office workers, or I’m in suburban America in a car, I feel like I’ve dropped onto Mars. And that is something that I seek to maintain; to keep the surprise of looking at the world with fresh eyes. But then, aren’t most artists, in any medium, supposed to have this innocent wonderment at the world? –Paul Graham