I got a little studio in Chicago and practiced. I realized I had to earn some money. So I went to work for an advertising agency where my job was mostly drawing insects for a company that sold an insecticide spray.

My rule was not to paint things as they were. I wasn't copying; I was remaking them as my own.

Because my work is naturally non-meaningful, the meaning found in it will remain doubtful and inconsistent - which is the way it should be. All that I care about is that, like any startling piece of nature, it should be capable of stimulating meaning.

I am for the art of underwear and the art of taxicabs. I am for the art of ice cream cones dropped on concrete.

Actually, New York is great for playing around. I made a lot of studies for New York-a big vacuum cleaner lying on the Battery in Manhattan.

My mother warned me to avoid things colored red.

I'm always careful to say that I changed everything I found.