“As an artist, I used to think that my responsibility was to do good work. But I …” — Patti Smith

I am still a very optimistic person. I continue to do work with joy.

What a model of an artist was for me was an artist who worked. Picasso was the ultimate model, because the work ethic he had.

Music television is all about the media-oriented version of what it is to be a rock star; it's not about what Bob Dylan or Jimi Hendrix were about - which included great images, sure, but they had spiritual and political and revolutionary content, too.

If I'm taking a picture of Brancusi's grave, I know that there's something of him, of his mortal remains, beneath my feet, and there's something beautiful about that.