Researching the theory that a modern artist is a person who is trying to rediscover a primal state of mind. Hollins believes traditional art practices arose in prehistory to impose a sense of intelligent control over sight, shape, sound and movement to suppress our older instinctive 'animal' way of sensing. Hollins excelled at art in school but was considered to be a misfit and left at 15 with no formal qualifications. He worked on a car assembly line until, at 20, he walked out and did odd jobs whilst formulating his theory. He says, “ I cannot tell you how I arrived at this idea. I think it had something to do with the way my lack of higher education made me look at everything from an ‘outsider’ point of view. It forced me to make my own interpretation rather than accept the established theories.