I think it's really important as an artist not to be drawn to the haters, because there are so many people who are nice and quiet.

It's easy to attack an artist as misogynist, but that's really such a facile epithet. And if an artist is constantly worrying about how others will judge a work, it can end up being a block to investigating certain areas of human nature or certain truths about sexuality.

I spent a lot of time at the New York Public Library, the main branch. I was one of those people. If you ever spend a good amount of time there, you realize there are people who spend the entire day there. They're bookish homeless people.

I wanted to paint pictures of people. I thought, "Why bother doing anything else. Everything else is a waste of time. I want to tell stories about people and their feelings and emotions."

I think it's really important as an artist not to be drawn to the haters, because there are so many people who are nice and quiet.

I'm not trying to be a finger-wagger at society. I sort of start with myself.

I think it's important to make art that is not that easily absorbable, that is a challenge to the authorities.