Lots of ambitious work by young artists ends up in a dumpster after its warehouse debut. So an unknown artist's big glass vitrine holding a rotting cow's head covered by maggots and swarms of buzzing flies may be pretty unsellable. Until the artist becomes a star. Then he can sell anything he touches .

If I stop being on good behaviour for a moment, my dark little secret is that I don't actually believe many people in the art world have much feeling for art and simply cannot tell a good artist from a weak one, until the artist has enjoyed the validation of others - a received pronunciation.

Many people cycle or swim to keep trim. But if swimming is so good for the figure, how do you explain whales?

My aim in life isn't so much the pursuit of happiness as the happiness of pursuit.

Few people in contemporary art demonstrate much curiosity. The majority spend their days blathering on, rather than trying to work out why one artist is more interesting than another, or why one picture works and another doesn't.

By and large, talent is in such short supply that mediocrity can be taken for brilliance rather more than genius can go undiscovered.

I primarily buy art to show it off.