A lot of times maturing as an artist is just starting to do the things you like to do.

I think what I do is find a cliché and try to believe in it, try to get to where I don't laugh at it.

There is, literally and figuratively, not a gold standard. That's almost as big a problem in art as in the financial world. How do you affix a value to something that only has value because a certain number of people agree to believe in that value?

I find I can't get rid of my trashiness as an artist. A lot of my themes in painting, to the extent that there are intentional themes, are meant to bring that conundrum into high relief.

When I went to college, and I went to art school, I started to realize that Warhol was cool and that pop art was fun.

There is no misery in art. All art is about saying yes, and all art is about its own making.

I think a big problem with art school is that it makes people feel like they have to be interested in everything that's of high quality.

Culture is for old people. When you're young you have your body, and that's all you need.

A painting of any quality is always going to have nerdy energy, an affirmation behind it. It's gonna be like a kid playing a video game.

I've always found paintings of nudes depressing because they can't compete with photographs. The grainiest photograph of some girl, a blurry Polaroid - you'd rather look at that than the Venus de Milo, because you think, Wow, that's really somebody... This camera really was in front of this real naked lady.

That was an important development for me, just realizing that you need to follow your pleasure, at least as a painter. I think any kind of artist needs to, no matter what you're doing.

Painting is like being a lawyer and attacking a corporation.