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

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

A painter must think of everything he sees as being there entirely for his own use and pleasure.

I paint people, not because of what they are like, not exactly in spite of what they are like, but how they happen to be.

I've always wanted to create drama in my pictures, which is why I paint people. It's people who have brought drama to pictures from the beginning. The simplest human gestures tell stories.

The longer you look at an object, the more abstract it becomes, and, ironically, the more real.

I am only interested in painting the actual person, in doing a painting of them, not in using them to some ulterior end of art. For me, to use someone doing something not native to them would be wrong.