I decided I should use the most obvious colours - the basic colours with simple names: red, purple, yellow, pink. I don't distort the objects, I don't change the objects, I draw them exactly as they are. I do the opposite with the colours.

When I go to China I see many artists whose work reflects on aspects of contemporary popular culture but obviously the history of Western art is not part of their own tradition.

'Understanding' art is like having a sense of humour - if you don't have one, no amount of explanation is going to make you laugh.

I had been doing wall drawings, but they were always black and white. Then in 1993 I painted all the walls of a room to make an installation and as soon as I saw the colour on the walls, it changed my whole life.

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

When I started teaching in the late 60s, in a time of student revolutions and changes, they changed in question of society and authority.

At the Summer Exhibition, I didn't really change anything; it's the same exhibition. All I changed is the presentation. I didn't really change the rules.