Unlike the background in many of the paintings that I was inspired by or paintings that I borrowed poses from - the great European paintings of the past - the background in my work does not play a passive role.

What it is is a type of editorialization, you know? This is self-portraiture. This is what you think about the world we live in.

Status and class and social anxiety and perhaps social code are all released when you look at paintings of powerful individuals from the past.

I guess art is in the eye of the beholder.

I was surrounded by art by virtue of not only the educational opportunities that my mother's foresight availed me to.

Mel [Bochner] sets a very high standard. He expects only the best and most thoughtful and rigorous examinations, not only of the history of art but your own practice.

I would imagine that what you try to do is to - is to be as sensitive to the environment that surrounds you as possible. As you see, my work has become increasingly global. My presence in the world has become increasingly global.