No my work does not reflect my sexual preferences it reflects the fact that I feel total freedom as an artist.

I was interested by the idea that artists working in a totalitarian dictatorship or tsarist autocracy are secretly and slightly shamefully envied by artists who work in freedom. They have the gratification of intense interest: the authorities want to put them in jail while there are younger readers for whom what they write is pure oxygen.

All artists are people of growth. It's like food you take the good and leave the rest.

The kitchen's a laboratory and everything that happens there has to do with science. It's biology chemistry physics. Yes there's history. Yes there's artistry. Yes to all of that. But what happened there what actually happens to the food is all science.

I do a one-hour workout called Drenched a cardio-boxing fitness routine Monday through Friday. There are usually between twenty-five and fifty people there - everyone from stay-at-home moms and professional martial artists to teenagers and seniors. They play great dance music. When I can I take two classes back-to-back.

I think that the problem is that people fear so many things and they don't live life to its fullest. And for me as an artist if God should want me to come this Wednesday to the end of my life so be it.

One of the most gratifying things I get as an artist is when people watch me do these different demonstrations and they in some way feel empowered by what I'm doing so they can confront their own fears. Maybe it's the fear of getting in an elevator maybe it's the fear of going on a plane and seeing the world.

I do support artists standing by their beliefs and walking with integrity. We have to find a better way to commercially exploit music while giving artists their proper respect. This cannot be done while taking their contributions for granted or trying to control the scope of their growth and power through threats and fear tactics.

I've noticed a lot of younger artists have less fear of doing different sorts of things whether it's various types of music or gallery artists moving between video and sculpture and drawing.

It wasn't not being famous any more or even not being a recording artist. It was having nobody who needed me no phones ringing nothing to do. Because I'm still too young to do nothing. I was only 24 when all that happened. Now at 40 I feel I've got more to give than I ever have.

Of course Hollywood is still making some excellent pictures which reflect the great artistry that made Hollywood famous throughout the world but these films are exceptions judging from box office returns and press reviews.

When I came to New York I began to meet the people who became the most famous artists of our time. I was insecure about my own level of ability I didn't know whether I could compete with these people and at the same time. I was wondering what is this anyway?

I always thought it was strange when these artists like Kurt Cobain or whoever would get really famous and say 'I don't understand why this is happening to me.' There is a mathematical formula to why you got famous. It isn't some magical thing that just started happening.

I am famous because I am an African American jazz artist.

When I got into the music industry I wasn't focused on being the most famous artist or even getting a major record deal. It was just to make music on my own terms or create my own image do my own hair do my own makeup.

Know the names of past and current artists who are most famous for playing their instruments.

I think my father would have liked to have been an artist actually. But I think he didn't quite have perhaps the drive or I don't know I mean he had a family to bring up I suppose.

My family's lineage is five generations of artists who never made it.

Comics don't work if the story is all in the text and the images are illustrative. It's hard to have enough faith in the artists to allow them to do their job.

Failure and its accompanying misery is for the artist his most vital source of creative energy.

The higher the artist the fewer the gestures. The fewer the tools the greater the imagination. The greater the will the greater the secret failure.

Louis Malle was the best filmmaker I've ever worked with. He was such an artist. He was dealing with the theme of innocence and experience.

I've always loved the experience of working together with other people toward an artistic goal.

I think most artists will experience a lot of negative people on Twitter but thank God I've got so many followers that I'm not able to see them that much. I'll see some from time to time but for the most part I always focus on something good.