If we don't have a sense of humor, we lack a sense of perspective

My sin as a painter is that I just want to paint anything I want to paint - and repaint.

I haven't the slightest idea what art is, but to be a painter is something of which you have to prove.

Common objects become strangely uncommon when removed from their context and ordinary ways of being seen.

Discipline is not a restriction but an aid to freedom.

A conscious decision to eliminate certain details and include selective bits of personal experiences or perceptual nuances, gives the painting more of a multi-dimension than when it is done directly as a visual recording. This results in a kind of abstraction... and thus avoids the pitfalls of mere decoration.

My subject matter was a genuine sort of experience that came out of my life, particularly the American world in which I was privileged to be . . . . I would really think of the bakery counters, of the way the counter was lit, where the pies were placed, but I wanted just a piece of the experience. From when I worked in restaurants . . . [it was] always poetic to me.