Wood may remain twenty years in the water, but it is still not a fish.
Unlike the expressionists, I have never been interested in renewing the world through the vehicle of art.
There is no communication with any public whatsoever. The artist can ask no question, and he makes no statement; he offers no information, and his work cannot be used. It is the end product which counts.
The idea of changing or improving the world is alien to me and seems ludicrous. Society functions, and always has, without the artist. No artist has ever changed anything for better or worse.
I don't like things that can be reproduced. Wood isn't important in itself but rather in the fact that objects made in it are unique, simple, unpretentious.
When Michael Werner saw a painting of mine, such as Die grosse Nacht im Eimer, which back then nobody wanted and everybody thought was ridiculous, he realized that this was the right provocation, that it represented the feeling of the times in the right way.
Museums collect what's important in their respective countries. In Berlin's National Gallery, however, this isn't the case. They're interested neither in me nor the other usual suspects. It's simply a German reality.
I'm not educated; I'd be a damn fool if I was (educated)!
One of my trips was to meet with the Gulf Cooperation Council with all the Saudi foreign ministers, and when we started the meeting I said 'Perhaps you've noticed that I'm not dressed the same as my predecessors", but no-one had a problem and I was never treated with anything other than respect. . . So I did not have problems with that, interestingly enough.
The key to enjoying the moment is to always carry a list of "Things I Gotta Do That Can Wait.
I'm getting more towards that point where I'm ready to kind of pass the torch on and see the next generation succeed behind me.