It's great when people appreciate your work but I don't know how seriously to take it. The amazing thing is that I found something so early that I can support myself doing and that can even be extremely lucrative but I love it either way.

My sister Jennifer is an Emmy winning journalist and mother of three amazing girls. She brings an exceptional dedication to her job her family and her community and has been a role model of mine for many many years. I'm extremely proud of her.

All of Koons's best art - the encased vacuum cleaners the stainless-steel Rabbit (the late-twentieth century's signature work of Simulationist sculpture) the amazing gleaming Balloon Dog and the cast-iron re-creation of a Civil War mortar exhibited last month at the Armory - has simultaneously flaunted extreme realism idealism and fantasy.

For people who are really talented what you don't say becomes extremely important. You have to judge what to say and what to leave alone so you can let the talent develop.

If you're extremely painfully frightened of age it shows.

My inspiration was my mom. She's a great cook and she still cooks and we still banter back and forth about cooking. Growing up in a mostly Portuguese community food was important and the family table was extremely important. At a very young age I understood that.

Our age knows nothing but reaction and leaps from one extreme to another.