The self-portrait is an act of objectifying the self and in that regard is a unique form of portraiture.

Very early in life, I fell in love with the landscape of the human face, where all the emotional states of life are to be found.

I continue to make paintings of people and their moments in our time because I am of that time. Out of that I hope to make pictures that are timeless.

Alas, it is just a single image - an extended moment perhaps. Unlike a biography, a portrait cannot present the many differing moments that make up a personality.

I hope that we can bridge the worlds of appearances and of insights, and thus rescue art from triviality, from 'sensation' alone.

I love an art which allows me to document my place in this mix... This is my past and my future. It has its own logic and finally, its own sense of fulfillment.

I do not believe that the way paint is applied should be more important than what is portrayed.

We do not see everything in the environment in the complete, totally resolved, explicit character of the photograph. We, in fact, prioritize our seeing.

My best training came from doing illustrations because it taught me to compose my paintings more effectively, to improve my colors, and to be ruthlessly selective.

I love the fact that there are more and more young people out there who still want to make a flat two-dimensional surface come alive with three dimensional magic.

Artists must literally go into a zone of intense seeing so the subjective and objective almost fuse together.

I saw that she didn't want to answer that question and so I asked again: when mouths close it's because there's something important to be said.

Be careful in your life, Tolui. I want you fit and strong for when I come for you.

Peace is a child's beautiful smile and a flower's freshnessPeace is an inner perception of joyfulness and happiness.

I know on which side my bread is buttered.

I want the flower and fruit of a man; that some fragrance be wafted over from him to me, and some ripeness flavor our intercourse.

A good job isn't something you go out and find, it's something you discover while you're working.

Mistakes are the stepping stones to success.

If I finish tomorrow and look back on the past years, I' d say, 'that wasn't bad'.

In order to do a good job of those things that we decide to do, we must eliminate all of the unimportant opportunities.

I always thought my records were number one; it's just the charts didn't think so.