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

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

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.

Cartooning was a good fit for me. And yet now, years later, I almost never think about it.

Sweet smells are sometimes used to cover foul ones.

The idea that you can take smart but inexperienced 25-year-olds who never managed anything and turn them into effective managers via two years of classroom training is ludicrous.

There was also talk of bringing Al Gore to California to help out, but there was concern that Gray Davis and Al Gore in the same state would cause some kind of rolling personality blackout.

Photography is truth...and cinema is truth 24 times a second.

It's probably one of the worst places I've been.

My graduate studies were carried out at the California Institute of Technology.

Children, do not listen to those who malign masters and sages. Never listen to or indulge in derogatory talk about anyone. When we harbor negative thoughts about others, our minds become impure.

If you can't join them, beat them.

Do it with passion, or not at all.