If you’re afraid to go just that bit little farther and fuck the whole thing up, then you’re in trouble. You’re painting with one hand tied behind your back. My old teacher, the British painter Michael Tyzack, used to say, “Without risk, there can be no serious painting.”

Art comes from self-delusion.If you don’t believe, then how can you convince others? Don’t try to be great, just be good. Any clown can hit one out of the park once in a while, but it’s much harder to be good consistently.

A book I love

My favorite book is The Three-Cornered World, by Natsume Sōseki, published in 1906. It’s a novel about an artist who goes on a retreat up a mountain to a little inn, where he falls in love with the inn-keeper’s daughter. The story is propelled by a series of sensory experiences he is immersed in—it's essentially a word-painting about... See more

‘All the talent in the world is meaningless without an atomic work ethic.’

My mother loved the stand-up comedian Phyllis Diller who said when the audience doesn't think you're funny, quit—simply do something else. There is nothing weaker than a painting that tries too hard. Do what comes easily. When it stops being fun, you’re doomed. If a painting sucks, I quit.

I put everything down and I go take a walk, or go eat at a... See more

If your intention is to ‘make art’, then maybe you’ll get a couple of good paintings. You may even get a show or two.

But I think of it this way: I don’t make art. I make things . Framing it like that keeps what I’m doing from becoming precious. And that’s a good thing, because to be precious is to be timid—and that’s bad. Creativity requires

... See more

I spent a period of time where my goal was to plow through work in the cheapest and most disposable way possible. My choice was cardboard—sheets of corrugated cardboard from the streets of Manhattan.

I’d haul it up to my studio in big bundles every day, and put it all over the walls, the floor—even on the ceiling—and make imagery on it. At the end... See more

As my Dad used to say, “If you're early, you’re on time; if you're on time, you're late; if you're late, it’s unforgivable.”

Speaking about your work and writing about it in clear language helps to clarify your intentions and communicate them to others.