I guess I am ruthless too because that's what makes a great artist. But I also respect people, I don't go around stepping on their heads.

My early paintings weren't that good - I was very influenced by Francis Bacon. But there was a kind of intensity there. And however influenced they may have been by other people, even my earliest paintings were recognisably my own.

I don't like building, I'm not a carpenter, I don't like constructions particularly and things like that, but placements and the kinds of psychological weight that different materials have is pretty interesting to me.

My compulsion is to create things.

I think it was so unfair that people attacked Freida Pinto for being an Indian, playing a Palestinian.

It doesn't matter what I think I am, it matters what I do.

Painting is like breathing to me. It’s what I do all the time. Every day I make art, whether it is painting, writing or making a movie.