The great achievement of Zen Buddhism, and all of its cultural expressions in painting or the tea ceremony or rock gardens, is a rejection of earlier Buddhist ideas which were dependent upon narrative - all the mythological creatures that populate the Buddhist galaxy. Zen insisted on the real located in nature.

I would say that most serious artists have a pretty complete idea of what they're going to do before they do it.

The church was always very adept at incorporating all the different artistic disciplines. What we call the church is actually an assemblage of different artistic forms, whether in its Biblical literature, or sculpture, painting, music.

I've always hated the word spirituality, but now I accept the word, and I think it's a useful term. It just means so many things. And actually, most of the things it does connote are beautiful things.

Museums have traditionally been places that protect the art object. But in the last 40 years, a new type of museum has emerged - the Kunsthalle or alternative space which only presents temporary, contemporary shows. Yet art is not just about the future - it is about the future and the present, but it also can't forget the past.

I've always been leery of comical artists because I think oftentimes they're hiding the fact that they're not that talented. For example, with Martin Kippenberger, I always thought he was a kind of poor man's Sigmar Polke - also a humorist - but Kippenberger used humor to get away with things he couldn't master.

Even after seeing so much bad art in the last few years, it still seems possible that one can be led to the right places. I haven't given up hope because there are always great artists, great minds, and great ideas. New ideas are what give you hope. You have to base your opinions on the quality of the ideas in the artworks.