In the studio with Mat Collishaw

So what's your relationship to the Georgian/Armenian Paradjanov?

'In the 1960s and '70s when Paradjanov should have been making socialist realist films about tractors he was making folkloric tales, loaded with rich visual imagery and symbolism. I wasn't that familiar with his work before this project but we do share certain motifs - the viciousness of beauty and nature, primitive elements such as fire and water and the use of framing devices that allow the camera to lock in on a subject and let it speak for itself.'

How have you responded to his films?

'They have a spiritual quality so I have constructed a sort of wooden shrine, almost the width of the gallery space, made from salvaged sections of altarpieces and old sash windows. Layered images that resonate with Paradjanov's work - including footage I shot on a visit to Armenia last year and images sourced from the internet, will be back-projected onto the different windows. All the apertures in the structure contain two-way mirrored glass so the images will appear to emerge and dissolve from behind the mirror.'

What's at the Foundling?
'Paula Rego, Tracey Emin and myself are all showing work among the collection that relates to children. I have included a large lightbox inspired by the story of Romulus and Remus, who were raised by wolves. It's given a contemporary setting, based on the itinerant kids I used to see around Bethnal Green, whose parents could barely look after them but would be fiercely protective if they thought Social Services might take them into care.'

You work with film and photography but your imagery is quite painterly…

'Underneath I'm really an old school painter. Art for me has always been about trying to preserve something of the aura of old master paintings and communicate that emotion back.'

Do you still paint?
'No, but for Christmas Damien Hirst sent me an easel, loads of canvases and hundreds of tubes of oil paint and brushes and told me to get on with it'.

And have you?
'I've been too busy with the BFI project but I do have a subject that could become paintings- images of the last meals of prisoners on death row. They often feature large quantities of chicken wings and bottles of coke but can also be as simple as an apple.'

Did you give Damien a present?
'I told him I'd give him my first painting. He might be getting the apple.'