I was very happy to be living in New York at that time, more than in the present time. Now it's all commerce.

Ox-Bow was a very free place, very open. You could do whatever you wanted to do.

I don't do abstract art because I don't find it as interesting as I do subjects and depictions.

In 1958 I finally found a large enough apartment on the Lower East Side, where I reverted to figure painting. I drew and painted quite a lot of figures and nudes. People would come and pose for me.

I like food because you can change it. I mean, there is no such thing as a perfect lamb chop; you can make all types of lamb chops. And that's true of everything. And people eat it and it changes and disappears.

There's always been a potential erotic possibility with objects.

I am for an art that tells you the time of day, or where such and such a street is. I am for an art that helps old ladies across the street.