There are no guidelines for what happens when you get successful as an artist. My heroes were artists like Acconci, and he didn't make any money. That's what I thought success was.

An artist should know art history. Shock value only lasts so long.

It's weird making a drawing of painting. I start to realize that charcoal is this incredibly fragile material. I'm making images of paintings out of dust.

An artist can have an intention, but the viewer has their own subjective experience.

The artist has to be a guardian of the culture.

When I look back on everything I've done, it all somehow makes sense to me. But it doesn't make sense when you're actually doing it.

If you're fortunate enough with your history, like with Men in the Cities, your work becomes so absorbed in culture that the authorship of it doesn't exist anymore.

The translation process becomes a highly subjective thing - turning reds and blues into black-and-whiteness. It's really bizarre for me.

I'm trying to find answers. It can be quite frustrating, but at the same time, I'm never quite satisfied with what I'm doing, so I'm always looking for the next thing.

A lot of us grew up in public. That often means that you have to fail in public too.

I've been dealing with epic images, and I realized all of a sudden that I grew up in the age of epics.

The [National Socialist] Party...is convinced that our nation can achieve permanent health only from within on the basis of the principle: The common interest before self-interest.

...does that not tell you that grief is like life and that there is always somethings unknown beyond it?

You can't copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling.

Don't be serious, be sincere.

Championships are not won on the night of a big event, but years before by athletes who commit themselves daily to championship principles

I would rather do a project that I've invested so much time to, rather than try to get a part on another show.

For me, this nomination was as if all of a sudden the crucifix began to wear a yellow star.

Why speculate when you can calculate?

I have this really morbid, awesome love for the movie Black Swan.

I met Mos Def around that time but I didn't hook up with him until I was about 17 or 18.