I think we're in a very exciting time - visually, I think we are. I've not got a crystal ball. I'm not saying I know what the future is at all. In some ways I'm getting quite pessimistic about the future, but in other ways I think it might get better. We are moving into very big changes.

I was aware that the teaching of drawing was being stopped almost 30 years ago. And I always said, 'The teaching of drawing is the teaching of looking.' A lot of people don't look very hard.

Being able to draw means being able to put things in believable space. People who don't draw very well can't do that.

I actually think the deafness makes you see clearer. If you can't hear, you somehow see.

Yes, I did, I mean I painted er, in a kind of abstract expressionist way, because of course that was exciting.

I believe that the very process of looking can make a thing beautiful.

I was 18 when I first visited London, I'm very provincial like that, but I must confess the moment I got to America I thought: This is the place. It was more open, with 24-hour cities and pubs and restaurants that didn't close.