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Illusions are art, for the feeling person, and it is by art that we live, if we do.

I am an illusionist. That's why I create art.

Sometimes my art is just an illusion - or is it?

I must be more sensible and realize that at my age, illusions are hardly permitted and they will always destroy me.

When I did my first few television specials, my illusions were so advanced that it took a couple of years before the other illusionists could even figure out what I was doing, let alone try to imitate me.

My art originates from hallucinations only I can see. I translate the hallucinations and obsessional images that plague me into sculptures and paintings.

Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces.

Of course the illusion of art is to make one believe that great literature is very close to life, but exactly the opposite is true. Life is amorphous, literature is formal.

I don't have any illusions anymore. The illusion that rock 'n' roll could change anything - I don't believe that. I've changed.

Art is a deception that creates real emotions - a lie that creates a truth. And when you give yourself over to that deception, it becomes magic.