I tell young people that the greatest paintings in museums are made with minerals mixed in oil smeared on cloth with the hair from the back of a pig's ear. It's that simple.

I think being an artist is having the courage to be original. Many great artists, including Picasso, have all been influenced by the great master paintings... And then finally, they leap, they take off... they become themselves. Then it looks like they just came out of nowhere. Just like 'Pow!'

I tell young people that the greatest paintings in museums are made with minerals mixed in oil smeared on cloth with the hair from the back of a pig's ear. It's that simple.

In many ways my paintings are about energy — both in how they are created and the image itself.

We are attacked by radio and television and visual communication at such speed and with such force that painting seems very old fashioned ...why shouldn't it be done with that power and gusto [of advertising], with that impact.

It fascinates me to create beautiful paintings with the simplest means.

History is remembered by its art, not its war machines.