More important than having a romance with the object that I'm drawing, is to have a romance with the mark that I am making.

The figure is still the only thing I have faith in in terms of how much emotion it's charged with and how much subject matter is there.

I do not think that obsession is funny or that not being able to stop one's intensity is funny.

Western art is built on the biographical passion of one artist for another.

More important than having a romance with the object that I'm drawing, is to have a romance with the mark that I am making.

I work every day. I work all day. I've never had a holiday. It's all I really want to do. It's what I'm here for. . . . More and more, I'm just so grateful I was born an artist.

Autobiography is the most fascinating thing you can do because you get to touch the human condition. And in the end, what else is there? To me, it's the ultimate affirmation of life, and a miracle of this transient, extremely fragile organism. To celebrate that, I think, is a noble thing to do.