The film crew came to the private view — with many turbo-brained scientists, invited along by the director. The worlds of art and science do not regularly collide, and the scientists seemed politely baffled. ‘I’ve never seen anything like this before’ one of them confided. I tried to impress my nephew Felix (a maths and science whiz) with their eminence, but I am so scientifically ignorant that I couldn’t remember their names. ‘I imagine there is a mathematical principle behind your paintings?’ one of them enquired. ‘Possibly,’ said Matt, ‘but they are done intuitively.’

When the Slade talk was over, there were questions about the relationship between ethics and aesthetics. I can be a nervous interviewee, but I felt safe on this ground, as I have thought a great deal about why we make what we do, and how social issues raised in my work in mosaic inform the painting.

After the lecture was over we joined the students for a meal. It was in celebration of Chinese New Year. Thirty of us sat round a huge circular table  at the top of a grand staircase in the painting department. I had the good luck to be next to a bright young artist called Tom, who talked knowledgeably about Slavoj Zizek, and Jean-Francois Lyotard. ‘How much is theory part of the course?’ I asked.  ‘We are told about it, but the reading is something we do for our own interest.’ he replied. After the meal Andrew Stahl, Head of Undergraduate Painting, took us on a tour of the studios. Industrious students were still hard at work at nine o’clock at night.

The relationship between theory and practice can be complex and obscure, we both agreed on the bus home.