Art should help you to navigate the real challenges of being a human being.

I realized that the only possible response was to go to my wonderful local café, Maison Bertaux, check everyone was well, eat a little cake and then make art. To me, making art, and in particular public art, is always an assertion of our humanity and our strength.

Art's true purpose is to be human as opposed to some rarefied activity set away from real life. I think art should help you to navigate the real challenges of being a human being.

When the world's run by fools it's the duty of intelligence to disobey.

Quentin Crisp said it to me; now I say it to you: say yes to everything.

War is always a failure. It means we've failed in diplomacy and we've failed in talking to one another.

I believe we have to put art back at the center of everyday life rather than allowing it to become a specialist activity at the margins of society.