Richard Wentworth, sculptor – portrait of the artist

What first drew you to sculpture?

It seemed like a place to breathe – and a way of getting off this island, in a figurative sense.

What was your big breakthrough?

Realising that the street is a site of total gorgeousness. Just look outside: it's momentous. I like white-space galleries, but I don't think they're very truthful.

You've don't often work in conventional studios. Did you set out to break with tradition?

No. Art has many territories: choosing any way of working is like going into a room, but knowing the door to the other rooms is still open.

Are you interested in what the viewer takes from your work?

Yes – it means everything. Culture and art are conversational spaces: I'm not the fat controllor.

Which artists do you most admire?

François Truffaut, Patrick Caulfield, late Picasso, young [Claes] Oldenburg. I see a thread running through them all: it's something to do with the way they were alive.

Who or what have you sacrificed for your art?

I've annoyed a lot of people. Possibly because I'm annoying.

What's the best advice anyone ever gave you?

"Have an interesting life." Lots of people have said that to me, and I think it's the most important thing to know when you're young. If your life is completely boring, and you've got a nice swimming pool, then I don't see the point.

Which work are you most proud of?

Making Do and Getting By, my photograph series [of everyday objects], because it can't be controlled, tidied up and framed.

Is there an artwork you wish you'd made yourself?

Any of Picasso's quick-as-a-flash sculptures, particularly Glass of Absinthe. You can feel him thinking it and making it and teasing it.

What one song would work as the soundtrack to your life?

Double Lifetime by Loudon Wainwright III: it's about how great it would be if you got two lives. He's a beautiful, funny writer. I get the sense that he's been impossible to live with, too.

What's the biggest myth about being an artist?

That art is all about the private experience becoming public, and being turned into fame and fortune. There are artists with great life stories – Louise Bourgeois, Francis Bacon. But art is also made in a thousand other ways.

What's the worst thing anyone ever said about you?

Anything painful that has been said to me has probably turned out to be useful – but I don't like it when painful turns into spiteful. I'm amazed that people don't have better things to do.

In short

Born: Samoa, 1947

Career: Studied at Hornsey College of Art and the Royal College of Art. Worked for Henry Moore in 1967, and became part of the New British Sculpture movement in the 1980s. His work is currently showing as part of the Curiosity show at the Turner Contemporary, Margate; and will be in Sculpture in the City, a free exhibition in and around the City of London from 20 June.

High point: "Realising that I belong to myself, but I'm happy to share."

Low point: "Still to come."