Artist Eleanor Adair discusses her forthcoming figurative show at the Kiroh Gallery in Edinburgh

Your work never seems to lose it's figurative element.Why the figure?The figure is such a personal belonging yet we have no choice but to exhibit it wherever we go. We take along something with us which is subject to judgment by everyone who looks. The canvas is somewhere to explore the extremities of that which is valid, ferocious and acute. For me the figure is the best place to do this.

Do you paint yourself?My pictures are full of myself. Hopefully I make a connection with the viewer so that immediately I can be anyone. This takes me outside the space of the canvas. People's reactions invent a new world, a new place for me. You don't stay on the canvas and you don't stay still if you have a viewer. If you constantly recreate yourself then you are constantly updating who you are which means always looking.

Are the paintings angry?Absolutely. I hope they are everything. You are painting your body but at the same time you are painting what's inside. This is what makes the body talk. The body could be seen as our emotions made solid. A fist is not just a balled up hand but the physical manifestation of the violence inside it.

Popular representations of the body often presents us with limited options . You seek to expose yourself beyond that. Why?Painting is like a personal ad. You advertise everything you need and everything you are. If the viewer can't take the exposure then they will look elsewhere. I don't think you can be arrogant whilst looking at art, otherwise you block the dynamics. Whatever I am exposed has as much right to take public space as that which we are told we idolize.

Do you think our relationship with our bodies has become destructive? Our bodies have been destroyed along the way. There is something destructive when your eye is told it can only accept limitations. Everything becomes bland because people can't see past this. Once eyes start moving outside of the shapes they become exciting again.

Are our bodies simply not good enough?They are never good enough when Okay magazine tells you Pamela Anderson has cellulite.

It's normal and probably wise for a human being to make themself look as good as possible. Why aren't you? Or are you? Are artists a group of people standing outside of the usual rules? If so, why hasn't evolution wiped you all out?I think it's the strongest person who can include, tolerate and look. This has to be good in evolutionary terms. We are told what the word "good" means. I'm looking at the word.

Are you angry at your body (because it's going to die)?I was angry at my body since I was a child but have no recollection as to whether this was before or after I knew I was going to die.

Is it arrogant to ask people to look at you?Arrogance would only be in the vanity. Looking is about seeing. This is how we become inclusive, tolerant and progressive.

Do people look at you because they don't want to look at themselves or because they do?I imagine you don't look at anything without looking back at yourself. There is always gain in this

Is a body distorted and abstracted in the way that you do any less fake than the airbrushed images in the mass media?The artist plays to a different audience. What I paint will be determined by my emotions not what suits other people or how much money I can make. I submit to something honest

What do you feel looking at the images of yourself hanging up in your gallery? Is it therapeutic? Is it lonely? Is it frightening?It is powerful. Only I can do this with my body. People have their own interpretations but the power comes from having started the story. I have no idea if it's therapeutic. I have no idea how damaging this is. I have no choice but to do this and this is perhaps where the damage is. Lonely features as long as you know people are frightened by what they see.. That includes me. In art you discover something that's tiny and massive at the same time.

What are people taking home with them when they buy one of your paintings?Damaged goods.Perhaps they want to acknowledge they have participated. If they are going home with a piece then they must feel successful and or curious about that participation.

Do you give thought to who might buy the work while you are doing the work?Its a surprise to me the question, mostly because I have never thought who might buy the work as I am doing it. I'm surprised I haven't.

Do you find yourself inspired by the work of other artists?There is an element of inclusion. It's always exciting to encounter good art. If you get excited you get inspired. If I like Mary's work then Mary is the art world. This is the life that makes you paint.

Artists have a reputation for being eccentric. For a short time in the 1990's you were diagnosed with mental illness. Are you a mad artist?I have lots of the ingredients: Brain chemicals, experience and short sightedness.

What do you think the state of art is today?It all seems to be packaged very nicely.

When people think of great artists they tend to think of artists who, like you, explore the personal and the political; they think of artists who make strong statements. However when those same people are looking to buy art they generally look for nostalgia, for something that goes with the decor of their livingrooms. Does this create a problem for an artist trying to be self sufficient?People do create a safe haven for themselves. You work hard to earn props from a world which has close ties on what you do, think and feel. No one wants that area which is tied to what they know as security breached by an outsider trying to get in. How would you explain that to your work colleagues or avoid discussing it with your friends? You want art to shake people up but people don't like been shaken up in their own livingrooms. Doing the art is easier than being an artist.

The exhibition runs from 8th October till 23d November