our civilization is in a continuous state of self-repair. Maybe you have undergone surgery once. In former times you might have died. Today everybody can live on and on; everything around us is repaired, even the spirit. Look at the young artists. They only paint the façade and not the things hidden behind it. I don't say that life is lost its originality. I show straightforwardly the state of repair of civilization.

p. 85 'Quotes', K. Appel (1989) - 'Karel Appel – the complete sculptures,' (1990)