MCM: Do people miss much of what you're trying to say in your sculpture. Can you tell from their reactions?

LF: Yes, I think people do miss a lot, and that's because I've spent about 18 years or more living, breathing and concentrating on my art. Henry Moore actually sums up just how I feel about this question when he said, "The average man who has little time to look at sculpture and painting finds it strange and puzzling. This is natural because for over twenty years I, like most artists, have been thinking all day long about sculpture and painting, and if after all that, I can only produce something which the average man would immediately recognize as something he would have done if he had the technical experience, the past twenty years would have been wasted. All good art demands an effort from the observer, and he should demand that it extend his experiences of life." *

MCM: I know you are a prolific artist, and that you travel not only for shows but for lectures and the like, how do you find free time for yourself?

LF: I was afraid you would ask that. Time, for most of my adult life, has been my albatross. Being an optimist can be an advantage, but not an attribute when scheduling a year in advance. I simply try to do too much! I do take time from my art whenever I need to and work on other areas of my life. A change is almost as good as a break. I have many interests besides my art, and I play as much as I can, but I'm still trying to balance these areas in my life.

MCM: The reigning opinion about your work is that it is unique. What accounts for this opinion, and do you feel your work is unique?

LF: It is easier for others to see my work objectively than it is for me; however, I believe a man's art is only his interpretation of what he thinks the world to be. Because we have unique experiences, backgrounds and most important, individual beliefs, each one of us sees a different world. Some see the world cloudy, shrouded with fear and oppression; while others look at the same world as divinely guided in its evolution, full of beauty and an exciting place to be. Each believes that his vision is the real world. A second reason, from the physical point of view, is distortion. Great artists of the past realized that in order to satisfy themselves and their discerning patrons, they must heighten the emotional content of their subjects. Many found that a symbol of an object was more powerful than an accurate representation of the same. Some found that symbols increased in power with further exaggeration and distortion. From my observation, the quality, subtlety and sophistication that bring these distortions about separate the genius from the technically good artist

*Henry Moore on Sculpture, edited by Phillip James, Viking Press, New York 1967.