There was an expression of intensity in dance that was so compelling to me that I wanted a piece of that action.

I remember seeing a photograph of myself en pointe with my hand over my head and the other hand turned in under my breast curtseying. I took dance lessons at Miss Debbie's Dance Studio, and she put this picture of me in the storefront window. I was so unbelievably humiliated by the sight of myself.

I think great art goes beyond the control of the artist. In some ways, art often makes itself and reveals things about that artist that maybe the artist is not fully conscious of.

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

You have to be polite with your friends and your family, but in your art, it's important to not be polite.

I stopped painting because I was so shocked at what I was doing and how much I wasn't in the work. The work was alien to me. I didn't know how to paint in a way that would get me out of this funk.

Sometimes audiences love you because they get to boo you.