I realized that most people waste their lives earning a living, and I wanted to live. I love painting, so I keep painting. That's how I became an artist.

Painting allows us to live in a more interesting way than we live our everyday lives.

At 16, I decided to do something brave: I went on a prehistoric dig. In fact, I've had my name in a museum since I was 18 years old, not for my painting but for the prehistoric objects I found. That's how I started thinking about art.

For me, it's important to experience aesthetic shock, which sets in motion our imagination, our emotions, our feelings, and our thoughts. That's the purpose of a painting and of art in general.

Painting is a play of opacities and transparencies.

It's fascinating to think that as soon as man came into existence, he started painting.

Prehistoric art came to move me much more than Greek art. Greek art has beautiful women and handsome men, but I don't care.