I mean, part of the justification for art is art history, the fact that you're part of this tradition. You can't really operate outside of it. So looking for what this work is really about, if I look at Velázquez, if I look at Las Meninas or The Tapestry Weavers [1657] or something and really study it and try to figure out what that painting is really about, then I find relationships between what I'm trying to do and what he was doing.

And when you are operating within your style, which is your world, which you operate in, then it also would make sense to you. Now, whether it makes sense to anybody outside is besides the point really. You just do it and then you find that other people kind of begin to relate to it and allow themselves to get into your way of thinking about things.

I like working late at night and then going into the house and sitting down and watching a movie and then going to sleep.

Agnes Martin is a big influence in my work actually, when I first saw her, these fine grids.

I'm always looking for relations between my work and the old masters.

I never stop thinking about what I have to do. Let's put it that way. The only thing that takes me out of that is probably a film. I watch a lot of movies.

I may have a lot of political opinions but it doesn't necessarily come into my work. I keep the two worlds separate.