News: Chris Ofili surrounded by paint

Chris Ofili discusses what it was like to create the backdrop for Metamorphosis: Titian 2012, Monica Mason’s last commission before she retires as Royal Ballet director.

‘He was surrounded by, drowning in, his own painting. “There was something wonderful about being in it, about immersing yourself in your own stuff, even though it got suffocating sometimes,” he said. From time to time he would climb up to the roof of the Royal Opera House scene-painting facility in Purfleet, Kent, and look down on his progress. “I would check the drawing but also the colour relationships: the depth of the blue against the zinginess of the green.”’

Read the full interview, Charlotte Higgins, Guardian, 6 July.12