The work itself is what motivates me. I like my own stuff, you know? I like the way it looks. I do it to please myself first.

I couldn't find any good pictures in magazines of ordinary modern street corners in America, so I persuaded this guy I knew in Sacramento - Stanley Something-or-other - to spend a day with me driving around just to take snapshots.

Your vigor for life appalls me.

Some of the wealthy collectors have paid lots of money for artwork that I already did, but I didn't do it with the intention of catering to them. I think part of the reason my work is attractive to people like that is because it doesn't cater to them.

I felt so painfully isolated that I vowed I would get revenge on the world by becoming a famous cartoonist.

I guess I didn't enjoy drawing very much. It was like homework.

There's some connection between visual images and music. But there's plenty of old records where I have no idea what the band looked like, or even what sort of context the music was played in.