I believe art has to take responsibility but it should not give up being art.

Art is difficult. It's not entertainment. There are only a few people who can say something about art - it's very restricted. When I see a new artist I give myself a lot of time to reflect and decide whether it's art or not. Buying art is not understanding art.

I was interested in transcendence from a very early age. I was interested in what was over there, what was behind life. So when I had my first communion I was very disappointed. I had expected something amazing and surprising and spiritual. Instead all I got was a bicycle. That wasn't what I was after at all.

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

But I believe above all that I wanted to build the palace of my memory, because my memory is my only homeland.

What does the artist do? He draws connections. He ties the invisible threads between things. He dives into history, be it the history of mankind, the geological history of the Earth or the beginning and end of the manifest cosmos.

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