“I start a picture and I finish it.”

If you wanna talk about influence, man, then you’ve got to realize that influence is not influence. It’s simply someone’s idea going through my new mind.

Most Young Kings Get Their Heads Cut Off.

Fire will attract more attention than any other cry for help.

I start a picture and I finish it. I don’t think about art while I work.

I don’t think about art when I’m working. I think about life.

I wanted to be a cartoonist when I was young.

My favorite Twombly is ‘Apollo and the Artist,’ with the big ‘Apollo’ written across it.

I had a romantic feeling about how these people became famous.

The black person is the protagonist in most of my paintings.

I cross out words so you will see them more

The more I paint the more I like everything.

I wanted to be a star, not a gallery mascot.

Since I was seventeen I thought I might be a star. I’d think about all my heroes, Charlie Parker, Jimi Hendrix…

Every single line means something.

I was a really lousy artist as a kid. Too abstract expressionist; or I’d draw a big ram’s head, really messy.

I like kids’ work more than work by real artists any day.