I have made on occasion posters and things like that for political reasons but not my work.

One of the reasons that I went to Mexico aside from the Maya and the pre-Columbian aspect of it was that I wanted to work with [Diego] Rivera, which I did, on a mural that he was painting at the time. But at some point I realized that I wasn't going to be a political artist, it just wasn't in my repertoire.

I've always been interested in archaeology, I guess ever since junior high or high school.

I have lots of objects. Every object has a story, which makes me think I should write a story about every object.

When I graduated from high school, this is in Los Angeles, I was very interested in taking a trip to Mexico to see the archeological sites. So three other people and myself drove down there.

The cultures of the Americas were extremely complex and interesting, with their own languages and observatories to watch the stars. The more you know about them the more you realize how extremely impressive they were. Bloodthirsty, though, I think they were as well.

I have found, and most artists are probably this way, that [when] you're working on some kind of idea, the idea makes demands.