“The difference between art about death and actual death is that one's a celebration and the other's a dull fact.”
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But I think it's more that when you're young, you're invincible, you're immortal - or at least you think you are. The possibilities are limitless, you're inventing the future. Then you get older and suddenly you have a history. It's fixed. You can't change anything. I find that a bit disturbing, to be honest.
In an artwork you're always looking for artistic decisions, so an ashtray is perfect. An ashtray has got life and death.
I've been asked to do a retrospective since I was about 28 and I always thought that was a bit odd. It's great to look forward as an artist because in the future the possibilities are infinite you look back and it's all fixed so it's a scary thing.
I think I like big issues, but I don't believe in God or religion.