I didn't really start appreciating Picasso until a few years back. I didn't like him at all. But now I can see this world is crazy.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Picasso is a character that has pursued me for a long time and I always rejected. He deserves a lot of respect because I am from Malaga, and I was born four blocks from where he was born.
Picasso is still influencing me. Of course, I haven't got that kind of energy, or skill.
I don't want to compare myself to Picasso, but he had four or five periods in his life. Any good artist grows and changes and matures.
Picasso's always been such a huge influence that I thought when I started the cartoon paintings that I was getting away from Picasso, and even my cartoons of Picasso were done almost to rid myself of his influence.
I don't think that I'm over his influence but they probably don't look like Picassos; Picasso himself would probably have thrown up looking at my pictures.
Picasso was hugely innovative, and, wow, did he have facility, amazing ability, but I don't think he painted a masterpiece.
Most artists never get a chance to be Picasso, but that doesn't mean you would stop painting.
My first influence obviously was Picasso.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, and knowing nothing about Picasso, I had the audacity to knock on his door, became his friend, and took thousands of photographs, of him, his studios, his life and his friends.
It took me six years to get close to Picasso. I learnt a lot from him, and he was an absolute genius. He almost became my grandfather at the time. It was like he was a magician or something.