By definition a metaphor is a figure of speech or a comparison between two unlike objects that have some kind of common ground. It’s not a literal representation, but an abstract concept. But most of all, a metaphor elevates an idea into something more layered than the actual reality itself. This is something I learned from 
writing poetry. When an image makes me think without hitting me over the head with the obvious, I’m more likely to connect with it on a personal level and be touched by its insight.
As an artist, I’m constantly looking for new ways to express myself. With so much art crowding the galleries, I ask myself, how does anyone come up with something new? It seems as if I’ve seen everything in one form or another before. So when I come across an artist whose work catches my attention, I want to know why.
We see metaphors in life all the time, if we know what we’re looking at. It’s everywhere in advertising, for example, the landscape composed of a slab of beef made to look like a rocky terrain using strips of bacon as a fence. It's the bacon they're selling with a vision that sticks in the mind.
This is why I’m always on the lookout for that new voice in art that has the ability to present itself with a different twist.
So my conclusion is to keep my eyes open for unusual comparisons which might give my work a new and fresh way of seeing what might otherwise be a tired cliché.