When I finish a painting, it usually looks as surprising to me as to anyone else.

I don't look at the work of my contemporaries very much; I tend to look at pictures by dead artists. It's much easier to get near their paintings.

I want my pictures to be things. I want them to be made up of marks that are physically and individually self-sufficient.

Passion lies between one mark and the next, and also within all of them.

I look at my pictures, and I think, 'Well, how did I do that?

I think words come between the spectator and the picture.

I am happy for people to talk about my pictures, but I wish devoutly that I was not expected to talk about them myself.