I don't like a lot of the stuff that goes on in the art world, but it's hard to be old and like what goes on around you.

There's a lot of difference between being well known and being notorious and the black paintings didn't make me well known - they made me notorious.

I don't like a lot of the stuff that goes on in the art world, but it's hard to be old and like what goes on around you.

Abstraction didn't have to be limited to a kind of rectilinear geometry or even a simple curve geometry. It could have a geometry that had a narrative impact. In other words, you could tell a story with the shapes. It wouldn't be a literal story, but the shapes and the interaction of the shapes and colors would give you a narrative sense. You could have a sense of an abstract piece flowing along and being part of an action or activity. That sort of turned me on.

Once I really started to understand Frank Stella's work and follow it, there's a certain type of invention and playfulness and extreme rigor with which he kept going forward.

I don't like to say I have given my life to art. I prefer to say art has given me my life.

I get cranky real easily. So the honor of it and the wonder of it all and everything has a hard time overcoming the petty annoyances; I mean, that's simply the reality of being alive, I guess.