I believe that public space should be intentional: it should be obvious that you belong.

In Amsterdam, the river and canals have been central to city life for the last four centuries.

My sculpture thrives in the context of the city, interacting with people in the course of their daily lives.

I pay two full-time assistants in my studio, plus consultants who are architects, engineers, and landscape architects, as well as lighting designers.

I never studied sculpture, engineering or architecture. In fact, after college I applied to seven art schools and was rejected by all seven.

It's good for art to make us think, to give us a shared experience that creates a dialogue, makes us talk to each other, including strangers.

You can't stumble upon something new and wonderful if you don't have time to stumble.

The most powerful part of the art is experiential, yet it's the hardest to describe because it's nonverbal.

When developing an idea, I remind myself not to start with compromise. I envision the ideal manifestation of the idea, as if I had no limits in resources, materials, or permission.

Advances in technology have opened up possibilities in the cultural realm throughout history. I'm intrigued by developments in technology - as an artist it gives me a new palette to explore.

The spaces I want to be in are nurturing and soft and saturated with color. Our cities don't have enough of that, and as humans we need it.

You cannot insult a wise man with wisdom.

One will never find in the waterfall of sights anything else than the Illusion of Life, which falls in torrents on the granite rocks of the souls.

We're trying to do what Miles Davis would have wanted us to do, which is approach it as artists with his life as the canvas.

I'm not someone who plays a part for the press junket.

It is never persuasive to argue that you are not the kind of person who does what you are actually doing.

Nothing can be found in the intellect if previously has not been found in the senses.

Without education, you really can't dream as a child.

I have all the equipment to be a politician. Total shamelessness. But it's lucky I never ran. In the years from [Joseph] McCarthy to now, I would have either been destroyed or reduced.

When you start off by telling those who disagree with you that they are not merely in error but in sin, how much of a dialogue do you expect?

One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides.