The Encyclopaedia of crazy animals was born out of my thoughts about the relationship between plasticity and rationalism. In the brain these two principals are evenly balanced, and both play fundamental roles in how the mind recognises and categorises objects.

My experiments are about examining plasticity. For instance a rational mind accepts that whales are not fish, but a plastic mind can lump whales with fish. There are times when it is useful to be rational and times we want to lump things in categories that are not rationally acceptable. We all sometimes have moments when it is convenient to lump spiders and insects together, even though they belong to separate groups.

All the arts use plasticity. It requires that we suspend rational beliefs and accept the irrational as being real. We have films where the dead mix with the world of the living and I have dandelions with lion heads

My encyclopaedia was an investigation into plasticity, and our minds ability to blend reality through metaphor. For a couple of months I made a new crazy animal a day. It was also excellent practice for learning to paint with digital brushes and was a fun project.