The book, the idea of a book or the image of a book, is a symbol of learning, of transmitting knowledge.. I make my own books to find my way through the old stories.

As a child I had no toys; our house was bombed, but there were lots of bricks. Ruins are wonderful because they are the beginning of something new, you can do something with them.

I grew up in a forest. It's like a room. It's protected. Like a cathedral... it is a place between heaven and earth.

I am interested in reconstructing symbols. It's about connecting with an older knowledge and trying to discover continuities in why we search for heaven.

As an artist you have to find something that deeply interests you. It's not enough to make art that is about art, to look at Matisse and Picasso and say, how can I paint like them? You have to be obsessed by something that can't come out in any other way, then the other things - the skill and technique - will follow.

When I see a new artist I give myself a lot of time to reflect and decide whether it's art or not.

Because of my Calvinistic upbringing, I was trained to think that what you do has to have a purpose.