Surrealism is anathema for me. Because the surrealists made a joke of everything. And I consider life a tragedy.

A work of art doesn't have to be explained. If you do not have any feeling about this, I cannot explain it to you. If this doesn't touch you, I have failed.

Art is manipulation without intervention.

The subject of pain is the business I am in - to give meaning and shape to frustration and suffering. The existence of pain cannot be denied. I propose no remedies or excuses.

The twentieth-century artist who uses symbols is alienated because the system of symbols is a private one. After you have dealt with the symbols you are still private, you are still lonely, because you are not sure anyone will understand it except yourself. The ransom of privacy is that you are alone.

I am a lonely runner, but I am a long-distance runner.

An artist can show things that other people are terrified of expressing.