Transcript
Maxwell Bates (MB)
Well the "Beggar King", of course, is an opposite. You see, I've always
been interested in contrasts, complete opposites. It seems to me that the beggar
and the king are complete opposites.
Terry Guernsey (TG)
And so you've put them together?
MB
Yes, into one being.
TG
And sometimes these are in the same paintings with your scarecrows. That's what
I was thinking of. For instance, the one in your brother's collection where
you have the beggars and the scarecrows are in the background.
MB
And the beggars are more like Samuel Beckett's type.
TG
Do you like his work?
MB
Yes. And I've had people come to my studio and say that my people have sort
of a Beckett, are sort of Beckett people. A lady from Toronto, I think it was
last spring, said that. Of course Beckett is far more pessimistic, I think.
TG
I find that there is such an affirmative quality in all of your work.
MB
Yes, I hope there is, yes.
- Vancouver, 1972