And I like the idea of change. Because I don't see why we should hang a painting on the wall and then just not think of it anymore because it's there like a piece of furniture.

At 18 I began painting steadily fulltime and at age 20 had my first New York show at the Macbeth Gallery.

I dream a lot. I do more painting when I'm not painting. It's in the subconscious.

I'm a secretive bastard. I would never let anybody watch me painting... it would be like somebody watching you have sex - painting is that personal to me.

I felt the need to get back to painting and I thought the best way was to start drawing, so I enrolled in a life drawing class. I soon discovered that people made very interesting subjects and I am still surprised that I had never discovered it before.

I have never subscribed to the Dirty Pallet school of painting.

I never know what it's going to look like. Wouldn't be much point in painting if I already knew the outcome. I have a subject in front of me and I start flooding colour and making marks, I don't know, it's improvisation isn't it?

Painting is seen as picture making, the making of an art object, something that can stand on its own.

Frankly, these days, without a theory to go with it, I can't see a painting.

But painting can be too lonely... I like being with people too much to have ever made that my life's work.

Destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.

So when I'm playing, I'm sort of painting a feeling in the air.

I tried painting for a short time and realized that I was not a child prodigy at painting.

Photography suits the temper of this age - of active bodies and minds. It is a perfect medium for one whose mind is teeming with ideas, imagery, for a prolific worker who would be slowed down by painting or sculpting, for one who sees quickly and acts decisively, accurately.

I'd asked around 10 or 15 people for suggestions. Finally one lady friend asked the right question, 'Well, what do you love most?' That's how I started painting money.