A work of art is a renewable source of energy..

You can't say I'm going to become a painter in the same way you say I'm going to become a dentist. Or maybe you can nowadays. But it's an endeavor..

I love the idea of hitchhiking into the city. It was bizarre..

These days people believe they can go into art and make a living. We didn't have that. The abstract expressionists were older, by the time they even ….

In this kind of super-capitalistic society, everything is turned into money. And one of the great things about art is it isn't worth anything. It's a….

I remember getting out of grad school and coming to New York and not wanting to get a teaching job because I wanted to work on my own, to develop my ….

A painting, you know, it's all dirty material. But it's about transformation. Taking that earth, that heavy earthen kind of thing, turning it into ai….

Being an artist is very independent thinking, although there's always going to be a lot of doubt..

I'm a professional artist, that's how I make my living. So I watch the market. There is, it seems to me, a lot of pure financial speculation, and I d….

I smoke pot when I work. I take a couple of tokes before I start. It just loosens you up..

I don't remember any dream. All I remember is waking up and feeling that there had been a change while I was sleeping..

I'm much more concerned about what artists think. But as you get older you tend to get much more isolated; you're not out in the bar, having long dru….

The possibilities of thought training are infinite, its consequences eternal, and yet few take the pains to direct their thinking into channels that ….

Western artists stand as humans looking at nature; Asian artists try to be in nature. You become one with nature rather than painting a portrait of i….

Holding together a kind of tension. When you see a painting that's really good that's what it's doing..

When you're using a long brush, you have your arm at full length. Basically, it exaggerates the movement of your body. But I always start far away an….

I'm very much involved with Asian art and its theory and practice, mainly Chinese because that was quite sophisticated. I tend to look at that more t….

Western art has a certain relationship to nature..

I think abstraction is a very rich area. And it is upsetting that people seem to have some fear of it. I'm constantly making these statements about h….

Remember that an artist's life is an intense search for truth. This search takes many forms. Everyone of these forms demands its own disciplines. I l….

I've always worn a hat when I work. I think it also comes from a picture of Rothko I saw with a painter's hat on..