Martin Gayford

The Spectator art critic and author opens up about his new books, having his portrait painted by Lucian Freud, and what David Hockney really likes to talk about. Interview: STEVE PILL

- Steve Pill

You must have met countless artists. How did you settle upon the 19 featured in your new book, The Pursuit of Art?

Part of the idea was that the encounter with the artists involved an interesting journey. In most cases, I’m traveling to see them. In the case of Gilbert & George, I actually met them in Beijing, so I was encountering China and them at the same time. If you go and visit an artist in their own landscape, then you find out more about their work.

Are there certain qualities all great artists possess?

There probably is an “artist type”, but defining it is difficult. I think it’s a recognizable mixture of being absolutely unbendingly fanatical about certain aspects of life, for example, what something looks like, but also a sort of willingness to go to extreme lengths.

In The Pursuit of Art, you write about the idea of “slow looking”. Is that something that has been forgotten about in the digital age?

Actually, it’s possibly something that is coming back. Obviously, there is a tendency for us to spend all day long looking at screens and go through to the other side of them like Alice with the looking glass, but there seems to be a movement in the opposite direction, perhaps as a reaction to seeing art entirely in a virtual form.

You seem fascinated by the artistic processes in many of your books. Do you see your role as lifting the curtain in a way?