Gao Xingjian is better known as a novelist than a painter. In 2000 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. He’s also a filmmaker, playwright, critic, and photographer. His images have a stark beauty, simplicity and loneliness.

When you are not painting, you take notes. That is when the ideas come to you. But when it is time to paint, you put your notes away and immerse yourself in music for a long time. When you finally pick up the brush, there are no preconceptions or sketches, and you feel completely serene. The image is born from under the brush and grows more and more distinct. Then, throwing hesitation to the winds, you set your brush to work — liquid ink does not permit procrastination, or else all is ruined and everything lost.
- Gao Xingjian from Return to Painting. Xingjian refers to himself as "you" in his notes in the book - as if he's writing to himself.

Like a lot of painting that I turn to for inspiration, Gao’s work walks that fine line between freedom, spontaneity and tight control. My painting Blue Descent (below) is perhaps the closest of my images to his. I painted it before I became aware of his work. I’m taking my work in that direction.