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Art really is something very difficult. It is difficult to make, and it is sometimes difficult for the viewer to understand. It is difficult to work out what is art and what is not art.

I have wanted to be a fine artist painter, and I reached the point in art schools were I'd like to understand more about images and how images communicate information to people. And I was not getting very far in that from my professors.

Painting is something that requires a lot of time - it's not just one good idea out of art school.

Everybody thinks they know what art should be. But very few of them have the sense that is necessary to experience painting, that is the sense of sight, that sees colors and forms as living reality in the picture.

Art is essentially communication. It doesn't exist in a vacuum. That's why people make art, so other people can relate to it.

Illustrating is more about communicating specific ideas to a reader. Painting is more like pure science, more about the act of painting.

The educator and the public need to have an opportunity to discuss why certain art is important.

You never know about the art world because it's a matter of opinion. If you look at old art like Rembrandt and Vermeer, it's not completely a matter of opinion. The pictures confront you, and you see exactly what it is. In modern art, a lot of it is suggestive, and it becomes a matter of opinion.