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look like on a wall and how I feel about it 6 months to a year later. There's some pieces that I've done for me. I live in a 5,000 square-foot Spanish house... It's like a testing area. The entire house is all my work, from pieces I did 20 years ago to pieces I just did 3 weeks ago. And it's an ever revolving door. As a matter of fact, I just had a piece that was very unique, a one-of-a-kind. I didn't want to sell it and somebody offered me the right price and I sold it," he says of 12 foot-by-9 foot Wizard of Oz anniversary collage. "I had just bought a new home and it had this huge, 18-foot wall, and I did it just for that wall." A collector bought that and another original titled, A Break in at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Both were two big for his new house, so it all worked out for Nelson. "Very serendipitous. Very weird. Sometimes the universe has little ways of telling you certain things, so you have to listen… I would have never been here with you if you would've called a week later. The right timing," he says with a smile. ML For more information, visit: kingofpopart.com | theMOHA.com andfollow Nelson on Instagram: @KingofPopArt WE WANT MORE Are you attending Art Basel Miami? "Bruce Lurie, for the sixth year, is representing me at Art Basel, and I am actually going this year. I usually don't go to these shows, because I don't have time. I'm looking forward to going and hanging out and seeing what it's all about. I look forward to that show every year because it's probably the best show for me, not just for me, a lot of people. You have people that go there from all over the world just to shop, and it keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger." Do you get out to Miami often? "I do. My kids live in Ft. Lauderdale. My one kid lives in Ft. Lauderdale and the other one lives in Miami, so I'm going to make the trip to see my kids and go to Art Basel." Where do you like to hang out in Miami? "I used to like South Beach; South Beach has changed a lot. I always stay at The Ritz in Ft. Lauderdale, that's where we're staying this year. Here's the thing, this is why I don't live in L.A. I live in a suburb of L.A. — I can't be distracted. I gotta live in an area that is just a small, quiet little town where I just go from here to here and I live my own little life. My partying days, I did that for so long that it was a distraction. And I started really getting good when I left all that behind. Don't get me wrong, I love having fun and I wish I could do it more often, I just don't have the time for it. I love what I do, so it's not really work, but I gotta balance me out. I just like to go out and do these kind of trips and just live lavishly, because I deserve it. Life is short. You don't know what's going to happen, so I like to enjoy my life and this is the time to do it, not twenty, thirty years from now." What would people be surprised to find out about you? "I've always been a crazy guy. I was like the worst kid. I've been kicked out of school for making faces; I was the class clown. I guess you have to be a little weird and a little quirky to do what I do. I'm the guy, if you dared me to do something, I would do it. Go over there and kiss a girl, and I got slapped at a movie theater. I was that guy. I guess that's why I started doing satire, because I wanted to make people laugh through my art. I'm not this serious work-hard-every-day artist, I have a really dry sense of humor. I'm not like this rigid guy, so sometimes that shows in my work." Who inspires you? "I'm inspired by everybody. One of my favorite artists was René Magritte, the guy with the top hat and the apple. I've done a few parodies on Magritte, it's on the MoHA website. But I'm inspired by everyone —from Warhol to Magritte to everyone… Art is so subjective. I've always been inspired by color and composition."