Arthur Smith

When a writer dies you get a higher standard of obituary.

I have a suspicion that a lot of artists are trying to get a laugh but, unlike stand-ups, they don't get an immediate response from their audience; a laugh is a rare thing in a gallery.

The real change that paintings undergo is in the perceptions of the viewer.

Although I write to entertain, and try to keep my work free of didacticism, I do have a rather passionate belief in our need to be connected to - and to learn from - history.

It took me realizing that a broken heart has never actually killed anyone to find the courage to ask for what I want, in just about every situation. That was part of my own growing up.

Another thing that freaks me out is time. Time is like a book. You have a beginning, a middle and an end. It's just a cycle.