One is immersed in the culture, one absorbs, discards and remembers. Our modern culture is omnipotently present. There is no escaping it. I am buried in my personal working problems, solutions may involve some fragment of memory. This digested residue, when combined with one's own uniqueness, is a blend that defies the intention.
Nothing is pure or unadulterated.
I think he meant, that the bits and pieces that go into making the whole have always been there. None of this should be taken to mean that I condone plagiarism. I hate and deplore plagiarists, They represent everything that is anti-art. I use portions, a feeling, bits and pieces, suggestive elements that are a sort of short cut, things that belong to our common culture, that make the communication of an idea possible. The evolutionary aspect of my work is dominant, which atomically precludes any ideas that are foreign to my needs, to the needs of the piece itself.