Your works now regularly sell for hundreds of millions of dollars, making you the most expensive artist in history. What are your thoughts on this commodification of art?

Bah! It’s obscene. When I said that art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life, I didn’t mean it should be used to launder the money of billionaires! These prices have nothing to do with art. Nothing! They reflect the madness of capitalism, not the value of creation. I used to pay for meals with drawings – that was the true value of art, something exchanged between people, not this… this stock market game.

How would you respond to today’s digital art tools and AI art generators?

Listen carefully: computers don’t have souls. They don’t have pain, passion, or the memory of a lover’s face in the moonlight. They can imitate, yes, but art is not imitation – it’s a lie that makes us realize the truth. These machines, they can only tell the truths they’re programmed to tell. Where is the violence of creation? Where is the blood? *(Pauses)* Though I admit, I would be curious to destroy these digital tools, to break them apart and rebuild them in my own way. Perhaps there’s something there…

Would you embrace any aspects of digital creation?

I spent my life trying to unlearn how to draw, to see the world through a child’s eyes. Now you have filters that distort reality with one click! *(Becomes serious)* But no, these are just tools. The real question is still the same: what do you have to say? What truth are you fighting for? If you have nothing to say, all the technology in the world won’t help you.

What do you think of social media’s impact on art and artists?

Everyone shows everything now. There’s no mystery left! In my time, I would work for months in solitude, fighting with my canvases. Now artists post their breakfast and their works-in-progress every day. It’s like watching someone digest – not everything needs to be seen! But… *(considers)* I suppose I would have enjoyed shocking people on these platforms. Imagine the reactions to Les Demoiselles d’Avignon posted live on Instagram!

The boundaries between different art forms seem to be dissolving. Your thoughts?

That’s nothing new. I collaborated with poets, with musicians, with dancers. I made sculptures from bicycle parts and ceramics from clay. Art has no rules, no boundaries. The only difference now is that everyone wants to call everything art. But calling yourself an artist doesn’t make you one, just as calling a tail a leg doesn’t give a dog five legs.

What about the democratization of art through digital platforms?

Art has always been democratic! I drew in the sand with sticks as a child. The cave painters at Lascaux didn’t need an MFA. What matters is not the tool but the vision, the courage to express what others dare not say. Today’s tools make creation easier, yes, but they don’t make it more meaningful.

Your work broke with traditional representation. How do you view today’s abstract digital art and generative art?

I didn’t break with tradition – I showed the truth beneath the surface. When I painted a face from multiple angles simultaneously, I revealed its essence. These computer programs, they create abstraction without understanding why. It’s like giving a monkey a typewriter and calling it Shakespeare because it produces words. Art must break rules with purpose, with understanding!

What advice would you give to young artists today?

Learn the rules like a professional so you can break them like an artist! This hasn’t changed. Start with charcoal and paper. Understanding form, light, shadow – these are eternal. Yes, use your computers if you must, but first learn to see. Really see! And don’t waste time trying to find your style. You don’t find your style – it finds you while you’re busy looking for truth.

How do you think the role of the artist has evolved?

The real role hasn’t changed at all. Artists are still disturbers of the peace, truth-tellers, revolutionaries. The ones who call themselves artists just to gain followers or sell NFTs? *(Waves hand)* They’re not artists, they’re merchants. There’s nothing wrong with merchants, but let’s not confuse them with artists.

Finally, what do you believe is the future of art?

The future of art is the same as its past – to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable! Whether with pixels or paint, virtual reality or clay, the artist’s job is to show society its true face, even when society would prefer to look away. Everything else is just decoration, and as I’ve always said, art is not made to decorate apartments!