If you want to change the world, change yourself.

In Seattle, I soon found that my radical ideas and aesthetic explorations - ideas and explorations that in Richmond, Virginia, might have gotten me stoned to death with hush puppies - were not only accepted but occasionally applauded.

A lot of my work comes from what in Asia is called the 'mind of wonder.' There is not a lot of 'mind of wonder' writing in contemporary Western literature. I think that's what appeals to the readers who are my fans.

Our world isn't made of earth, air and water or even molecules and atoms; our world is made of language.

You see the transformation that the arts have on young people. It changes their lives for the better. That's where my engagement is.

To be able to transform societies and economies to low-carbon ones was an amazing challenge. To influence and to facilitate such an important transformation in the world would be like witnessing something of industrial revolution proportions.

Makeup ignites a psychological transformation of both the wearer and the observer. My paintings sought to locate the subject of art within the manipulation of that altered predisposition.

For years and years, people would say, 'The business is changing.' And I would say, 'The business is not changing. It's exactly the same as it was in the '70s, the '80s and the '90s.' But all of a sudden, the business changed, and it really did change.