Originally from Las Cruces, New Mexico, Scooter LaForge is one of New York City’s most mysterious characters. A friendly, approachable painter with an easygoing style, he constantly code-switches, weaving his fascination with words and everyday details into conversations that are often about conversation itself. His painting works on the same principle. The brushstrokes are the point—frozen movement that reveals moving targets of “meaning.” In his Gesamtkunstwerk apartment, the artist answers some of our questions.