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I am here on Earth to express myself, and the many media of art are my magic carpets that allow me the freedom to do so.

I believe that art elevates humanity. I feel incredibly privileged to be part of that.

Art is the job of the privileged.

I see little of more importance to the future of our country and of civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist. If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.

The disintegration of the culture starts with the artist. I'm on a crusade to turn the tide in the arts, to restore dignity to the arts and, by extension, to the culture.

There are forms of art that I might not like to do myself, but I still have respect for the artists who create it.

Painting is not what my life is about, but it is very important to me, and I am very lucky to be able to give some time to it.

The craft of painting has virtually disappeared. There is hardly anyone left who really possesses it. For evidence one has only to look at the painters of this century.

It has been my fate in a long life of production to be credited chiefly with the equivocal virtue of industry, a quality so excellent in morals, so little satisfactory in art.

I always feel like it is a privilege to be able to be an artist and to be able to exhibit my work all over the world.