I have never understood, for instance, why some people see contemporary art as divided between 'painting' and 'conceptual art', as though this represented a genuine division.

If you try to copy something exactly you won't get it correct, because you don't share the same tradition and context.

There is a complete difference between art and the art market. Prices are high now for the simple reason that there are people are willing to pay them. The market dominates the art world today because at the moment collectors call the shots. Like everything else that won't last forever.

If you close the door to the things you feel comfortable with, you will never discover the truth about yourself.

I am personally happy for artists to make as much money as they can while they can to carry them through the times when they can't.

I was poorer than anyone I'd ever met. But it was a great time to be a young artist - I remember it as a period of exceptional creative freedom and adventure, when one was regularly presented with works of art unlike anything one had ever seen before.

Often people do not properly value things that they are good at naturally because they find them too easy. That is very problematic.