We're wired to be empathetic and to care about the needs of others, but also to be curious about others. And I think that's just sort of in our DNA. And so portraiture is a very human act.

I think there's something important in going against the grain, and perhaps finding value in things that aren't necessarily institutionally recognized.

This is something that, as artists, we constantly deal with-throwing away the past, slaying the father, and creating the new. This desire to throw away the old rules.

The backgrounds by design are a very key part of the conversation, because I want a kind of fight or pressure to exist between the figure and the background.

All art is self-portraiture.

Painting is situational. And my particular situation exists within gender, race, class, sexuality, nation.

I believe that artists should be part of the culture. I think that my work clearly bears that out.

The art world has become so insular. The rules have become so autodidactic that, in a sense, they lose track of what people have any interest in thinking about, talking about or even looking at.

We have a lot of sort of received historical ways of viewing portraiture. And I suppose in some way I'm sort of questioning that by toying with the rules of the game.

I guess art is in the eye of the beholder.

I think that's kind of indicative of a type of self-confidence that people develop when they recognize their own ability to create.

No one is absolutely free from religion and philosophy, for the life we live is always under the influence of religion and philosophy!

It was all written. When life is going to be breathed into you, and when it's going to be taken away. Each person's mission on earth is pre-planned.

There is not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me.

I don't believe there is such a thing as 'moderate Islam.' I think it's better to talk about degrees of belief and degrees of practice.

There are two principles of established acceptance in morals; first, that self-interest is the mainspring of all of our actions, and secondly, that utility is the test of their value.

I took one Draught of Life - I'll tell you what I paid - Precisely an existence - The market price, they said.

It's usually easier for me to begin writing in a character's voice if that person is different from me in some significant way.

It's not possible that women can be at par with men.

You cant be satirical and not be offensive to somebody.

What is a man? What is a woman? Why are men and women attracted to each other? Why do they desire each other? Love...what is it?