New York is a city where you're so alone, you're an individual, you can disappear. You can make something happen. But it's very different to make something happen in the art world.

I never really read Allen Ginsberg poetry, even though I have a book he gave me.

So-called Chinese art and culture is under control of the Party. They exist to serve the official agenda. I call it fake art and culture.

As a human being, member of society, you must clearly state your mind. It's a responsibility. It is the way you identify yourself otherwise you don't know who you are and why you are here.

Somehow, we [ Tan Dun and director Chen Kaige] were all privileged at the time; we could be outside of China. But at the moment, we had no sense of what the future was going to be like.

Cities really are mental conditions. Beijing is a nightmare. A constant nightmare.

All the auction houses care about is the selling of luxury goods.