The reality comes first, and the symbol comes after. I see these things, and suddenly they become symbolic of life.

My only strength is finding something where most people would find nothing.

The fact is that until I saw paintings as icons, I couldn't see why people painted at all.

Sometimes I seem to be two people. One who does not paint and one who does. The one who does not paint assumes that the one who does can paint anything. The one who is the painter sometimes finds it difficult to live up to that faith.

I can't stand theory because it is imposed by the intellectual. And the intellectual is, by definition, not a creative person. The intellectual is a person who talks about the creative process, but often doesn't understand it.

When I'm painting them, the whole legend and mythology of apples occurs to me, and so Adam and Eve and the snake and all the rest of it somehow gets into the picture.

The reality comes first, and the symbol comes after. I see these things, and suddenly they become symbolic of life.