Being best is a false goal, you have to measure success on your own terms.

I can't understand why most people believe in medicine and don't believe in art, without questioning either.

I definitely think about death. And every day your relationship with death changes. And every day I sort of feel like I know it more. I've always thought about it.

Art is the closest you can get to immortality, though it's a poor substitute - you're working for people not yet born - and people want it because it is brilliant. It ends up in museums anyway; the rich have to give it back to the people, it's their only option. There are no pockets in a shroud.

So smoking is the perfect way to commit suicide without actually dying. I smoke because it's bad, it's really simple.

As soon as something becomes art I think you get over the fear

I always try to make everyone mellow down, make sure everybody's happy. The people I have employed have always kind of stayed with us. A lot of people who come to work for you are artists in their own right. And they want to work for you because they want to pick something up.