With a little exercise and riding my gym bike. I insist on a proper breakfast because it’s important not to start the day on an empty stomach. I like to sleep in and find it hard to get up before 8, though I wasn’t always in a position to sleep late. For 26 years I had various workplaces, and then I had to start the day early.
Bach – in any form or quantity. Also György Kurtág, though he’s a far cry from Bach. I find it such an amazing experience to listen to the Kurtág couple play Bach transcriptions.
I have little time for literature. I mostly just dip into the books of Nádas, Térey and Krasznahorkai. I’m a diligent reader of specialist literature including books and journals.
New York, Berlin, Venice.
All I can make is coffee and tea. Fortunately, my wife likes to cook and is also a great cook. I’m not much of a restaurant goer, though when I’m abroad I have little choice and then I gladly try new cuisines and flavours.
I can’t avoid reading online as well.
Artmagazin, Műértő, Balkon and, lately, FlashArt, which I think has a fresh outlook.
None. I'm not very good at that kind of thing. It’s my wife who chooses clothes for me.
There must be, though I haven’t come across them yet.
It matters more afterwards, when the paintings are finished and my fellow artists are looking at them. Feedback is very important. While the opinion of members of the profession is always of great importance, the opinion of art critics is less so.
Not many, just a few, such as Hopper in Budaörs (1997) and the City (1999).
I don’t know whether Raphael liked coffee or not. I find the period and masters of the early Renaissance such as Rogier van der Weyden very exciting, but also modern artists, though the list would be too long. Just to give you a few names: Josef Albers, Frank Stella, Peter Halley, Imi Knoebel and Sean Scully.
Firstly, a great thinker, Béla Hamvas. I’ve been changed for life by his writings that were only available in manuscript form in the early ’60s. There are a lot of others, in fact too many to list. I’ve already mentioned a few names in response to the question about coffee. I’d also add the great masters of the ’60s, the pop art masters.
It was also a great experience to be able to have “coffee” with Rauschenberg in Japan in 1989. The director of the Goethe Institute in Osaka, a lover of Japanese culture, organised a fantastic event. He invited 100 artists from around the world who painted the traditional kite forms of Japanese masters, which could also be made to fly. In front of an old castle some 15–20 people set the kites painted by the great figures of contemporary art (both from the older and younger generation, such as Rauschenberg and Frank Stella) in motion during cherry blossom time.
They should realise that we are all born into facts and processes of art history and into the universal situation of contemporary art. We need to define our special roles and find ourselves within that context.
I have sketches which I use as a basis for making the actual paintings, but I have no unfinished paintings.