There’s something he said that I know people don’t think is that important, but to me is really critical. He said that for him, one of the most important things was low overhead. If you want to have a long career as an artist, don’t get in a lot of debt; don’t buy a lot of machines you don’t need. The readymades, for me, were the ultimate in recycling—the ultimate in taking something that’s worth nothing, like the snow shovel just leaning against the wall, you don’t even use them all summer long. I like the idea of economy, partly from my experience with architecture and partly from my experience with being poor. I think economy was one of the key things, both in Mondrian and Duchamp—the idea that the art of the mind needs to be in balance with the art of sensation. Duchamp said his style was “anti retinal.” That was interesting to me because I was so retinal; I was so absorbed in color. But the economy of color was also interesting to me—the impact of color, the impact of color and pattern. So intellectually, I think it was very appealing in terms of the idea that art doesn’t have to be made out of gold and silver and jewels. I like to say that it’s the alchemy of Duchamp, taking nothing and making it precious. To me, that’s the basic thing an artist does—if you can take some cartoon and make it somehow revelatory to someone, make them have an experience that’s optical and mystical and puzzling, and make them think there’s something deeper to art than just its decorative qualities. The “Duchampian” gift to the world was the return of art to an intellectual posture that it had lost in the wake of all the sensation of Impressionism and Post Impressionism and Cubism and what were essentially perceptual and optical.