I was looking at books and reading the indexes and finding a next book and reading that book, and then from that index ... It was a version of surfing the internet before the internet. I was surfing the New York Public Library. It was back when you had to fill out a form and put it in a chute.

I think one important thing that happens in the studio is accepting yourself as the enemy and painting from that point of view. So instead of pointing the finger outward and passing judgment, instead, you start with yourself as your own worst enemy.

Sometimes audiences love you because they get to boo you.

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.

If you don't have your unconscious working for you, you're really out of luck as an artist.

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."