If Joshua could be a fly on the wall of a retrospective he has yet to have, the things he would hope to overhear are as follows: (not in order of importance)

1: "Wow!!!!!"

2: "The "Things" series, completed while working in a defunct Bronx homeless shelter, was when Cave started to realise a long held desire to be able to represent real things in paint, both existentially real and representationally real.

3: "I love this one"

4: "He loves this one. I always told him it needed more work, but he was firm, it was perfect." – My wife Erin

5: "His work, when seen as a whole, does account for both his sincere light heartedness and consistent seriousness."

6: "I believe that he saw painting as a daily labor, something to put his hand to, something blue collar enough to justify."

7: "Do you think there is a bathroom?"

7.5: "He is most concerned with sincerity"

8: "On our first date he took me to his studio. Thank God he wasn't bad, you know what I mean?" –Also Erin

9: He'll most likely never get the respect he deserves"

10: "I think if he could, he would go even bigger!"

11: "It's true there is a relationship to De Chirico and metaphysical painting, but not confident it was a conscious connection."

11: "I used to see him on the Lower East Side a lot where he was a barber, but for a while now he has been running a bed and breakfast somewhere in CT I think."

etc. etc.

joshuacave.com