Growing up on the west coast of the U.S. gave me the sense of importance which the pioneer spirit plays in art. I am not at all sure that a translation or explanation of this attitude is posssible. But it is what made the art of San Francisco dramatically different from that of New York. May be it was because it was somewhat free at that time from the market forces in the big art world of the East Coast and, of course, the rest of the world. At least that was the case 40 or 50 years ago. Critical thinking was unemcumbered.