In my early work I didn't use much colour. I had no confidence about how I could do this.

If things are too similar, the dialogue is not very interesting. If you put in contrast, big and small, abstract and representational, you set up the possibility of a discourse.

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.

When I told people that I was going to paint the big room magenta, many people thought that I was crazy.

As an artist you are free to use any image, any style, any idea from any culture and any period of history.

It's important for me to give each thing the possibility to speak and also to allow artworks speak to each other.

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.