I have a total responsibility to the reader. The reader has to trust me and never feel betrayed.

I find that the mask of the critic is to have distance.

Rembrandt was way ahead of his time. It's as if he was painting an amateur theatrical, or a professional theatrical, in his studio. It's a kind of performance.

A lot of writers and artists are like chefs who eat their own cooking in the kitchen and then deliver an empty plate with assurances that it's great.

There's art that I would readily buy if I could afford it, and enjoy, but would never write about because it doesn't seem significant.

Your medium has to be alive to you, no matter what you do.

With art criticism it's difficult to discuss beauty, to assess it, because there's always the possibility that we're insane.