The paintings that really excite me have an erotic element or side to them irrespective of subject matter

The character of the artist doesn't enter into the nature of the art

The paintings that really excite me have an erotic element or side to them irrespective of subject matter

I remember Francis Bacon would say that he felt he was giving art what he thought it previously lacked. With me, it's what Yeats called the fascination with what's difficult. I'm only trying to do what I can't do.

When I look at a body it gives me choice of what to put in a painting, what will suit me and what won't. There is a distinction between fact and truth. Truth has an element of revelation about it. If something is true, it does more than strike one as merely being so.

What do I ask of a painting? I ask it to astonish, disturb, seduce, convince.

When I look at a body it gives me choice of what to put in a painting, what will suit me and what won't