I Would Wish My Portraits To Be

What Do I Ask Of A Painting? I Ask It To Astonish, Disturb, Seduce, Convince.

I Could Never Put Anything Into A Picture That Wasn't Actually There In Front Of Me. That Would Be A Pointless Lie, A Mere Bit Of Artfulness.

Were It Not For This [dissatisfaction], The Perfect Painting Might Be Painted, On The Completion Of Which The Painter Could Retire. It Is This Great Insufficiency That Drives Him On. The Process Of Creation Becomes Necessary To The Painter Perhaps More Than It Is In The Picture. The Process Is In Fact Habit-forming.

Everything Is Autobiographical And Everything Is A Portrait.

I Am Only Interested In Painting The Actual Person, In Doing A Painting Of Them, Not In Using Them To Some Ulterior End Of Art. For Me, To Use Someone Doing Something Not Native To Them Would Be Wrong.