I am an artist first and a photographer second.

My use of the medium - photography - is in some ways traditional.

As a former Catholic, and as someone who even today is not opposed to being called a Christian, I felt I had every right to use the symbols of the Church and resented being told not to.

I am just an artist.

I have always felt that my work is religious, not sacrilegious.

I like the aesthetics of the Church.

Unfortunately, the Church's position on most contemporary issues makes it hard to take them seriously.

I think if the Vatican is smart, someday they'll collect my work.

I like going to Church for aesthetic reasons, rather than spiritual ones.

In my work, I explore my own Catholic obsessions.

Oftentimes we love the thing we hate and vice versa.

An artist is nothing without his or her obsessions, and I have mine.

Some people have compared the Klan images to ecclesiastical figures.

My work is intensely personal.

One of the things that I am happy about in my life as an artist is that I am not considered a Hispanic artist.

People have to find ways of explaining the work.

I have always felt that I am the sum total of my parts.

I usually refer to myself as Hispanic.

My work has social implications, it functions in a social arena.

I am drawn to Christ but I have real problems with the Catholic Church.

Being born, especially being born a person of color, is a political act in itself.

Whenever possible, I operate outside the system.

I have never voted in my life.

I don't think that because I am Hispanic I should therefore do Hispanic work.

I like to believe that rather than destroy icons, I make new ones.

I have never been able to see myself as fitting into one category, and I have never been able to limit my contact with people to one group of people.

I like Church furniture.

I am an artist first and a photographer second.

Being a cover artist is not like being a real artist. That's just copying what someone else did.

The artist need not know very much; best of all let him work instinctively and paint as naturally as he breathes or walks.

What an artist learns matters little. What he himself discovers has a real worth for him, and gives him the necessary incitement to work.

Beauty, like truth, is relative to the time when one lives and to the individual who can grasp it. The expression of beauty is in direct ratio to the power of conception the artist has acquired.

I'm inspired by nature. Other artist's work is important for developing my perception.

There is only one position for an artist anywhere; and that is upright.

The difference between a bad artist and a good one is: the bad artist seems to copy a great deal; the good one really does.

To say that an artist sells out means that an artist is making a conscious choice to compromise his music, to to weaken his music for the sake of commercial gain.

What do you say when someone has truly inspired you? How do you express to an artist how deeply their work has affected you?

An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original.

When I say artist I mean the man who is building things - creating molding the earth - whether it be the plains of the west - or the iron ore of Penn. It's all a big game of construction - some with a brush - some with a shovel - some choose a pen.

You have to find what makes you stable in the storm. Then, no matter what's happening round you, no matter what the hype or the publicity, you can still manage to make leaps in your work as an artist.

The key to the mystery of a great artist is that for reasons unknown, he will give away his energies and his life just to make sure that one note follows another... and leaves us with the feeling that something is right in the world.

I've always felt that if one was going to take seriously this vocation as an artist, you have to get beyond that decorative facade.

Art is a private thing, the artist makes it for himself; a comprehensible work is the product of a journalist. We need works that are strong, straight, precise, and forever beyond understanding.

The most colorful section of a bookstore is the display of SF books, with art by people like Wayne Barlow, who is a terrific artist.

Arguably, no artist grows up: If he sheds the perceptions of childhood, he ceases being an artist.

Let not a man do what his sense of right bids him not to do, nor desire what it forbids him to desire. This is sufficient. The skillful artist will not alter his measures for the sake of a stupid workman.

I so much appreciate it when anybody tries to make something and tries to be an artist - I'm happy to see the work.

The artist is seen like a producer of commodities, like a factory that turns our refrigerators.

I've also been willing to share any help that I could give to any other artist.