I realize that invention, imagination, is based on knowledge… and that the characteristic of "new" or "contemporary" is an unfamiliar juxtaposition of ideas or forms. In fact, an extremely broad background or vocabulary is absolutely essential to creation. The realization of dreams. "He's a dreamer." Fantasy. These are the things which make art of any kind. The origin of all dreams and ultimately the realized objects of these dreams is real hard stuff... A past, a history, the INPUT itself. So strange and striking as an invention may seem, the basis of this is certainly that which has already existed. Fiction and fantasy are based on fact.

—Dailey 1977