The artist who aims at perfection in everything achieves it in nothing.

The artist who aims at perfection in everything achieves it in nothing.

You study, you learn, but you guard the original naivete. It has to be within you, as desire for drink read more

You study, you learn, but you guard the original naivete. It has to be within you, as desire for drink is within the drunkard or love is within the lover.

As for types like my own, obscurely motivated by the conviction that our existence was worthless if we didn't make read more

As for types like my own, obscurely motivated by the conviction that our existence was worthless if we didn't make a turning point of it, we were assigned to the humanities, to poetry, philosophy, painting -- the nursery games of humankind, which had to be left behind when the age of science began. The humanities would be called upon to choose a wallpaper for the crypt, as the end drew near.

I've been called many names like perfectionist, difficult and obsessive. I think it takes obsession, takes searching for the details read more

I've been called many names like perfectionist, difficult and obsessive. I think it takes obsession, takes searching for the details for any artist to be good.

Abstract art: a product of the untalented sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered.

Abstract art: a product of the untalented sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered.

The highest art is always the most religious, and the greatest artist is always a devout person.

The highest art is always the most religious, and the greatest artist is always a devout person.

Nature is inside art as its content, not outside as its model.

Nature is inside art as its content, not outside as its model.

Art is a fruit that grows in man, like a fruit on a plant, or a child in its mother's read more

Art is a fruit that grows in man, like a fruit on a plant, or a child in its mother's womb.

I remember being handed a score composed by Mozart at the age of eleven. What could I say? I felt read more

I remember being handed a score composed by Mozart at the age of eleven. What could I say? I felt like de Kooning, who was asked to comment on a certain abstract painting, and answered in the negative. He was then told it was the work of a celebrated monkey. 'That's different. For a monkey, it's terrific.' - "London Magazine", March, 1967.