What’s a seven-letter word for retention of youth into adulthood?

I'm going with neoteny.
I was going with asshole.
Me? I like the former. Particularly since it speaks, to a degree, about myself.
I rest my case.
Picasso used to say he worked his whole life to be able to paint like a child.
I rest my case.
Wow, that's pretty harsh.
Just 'cause you're a hotshot artist doesn't give you license to be a pathological jerk.
Like Sinatra.
I was thinking Picasso.
Or Charlie Sheen.
O' noble beast.
Exactly.
Just so long as you're not thinking about me.
You, my friend, are a far cry from being a hotshot artist.
Really?
Really.
How 'bout my boy Gussy the K?
If by "Gussy the K" you mean Gustav Klimt, then yes.
I've spent my whole life to be able to paint like my boy Gussy. And I still can't.
I thought you were a Close/Pollock fusion guy.
It's all mixed in. Take a look at this:

I mean, look at the thing. Really!
I can see the influences on your work.
Keen eye, my friend. There's a big Klimt show at the Neue Galerie.
Kind of makes you wish you still lived in New York.
A little, yes.
What did you have for breakfast?
I had a big bowl of split pea soup laced generously with Frank's Original Hot Sauce.
Wow. I love that stuff.
Yeah. And I made the soup with andouille sausage, and every time you chomped down on a little nugget of sausage it was almost like an orgasm.
Man, you have got to get back to New York.
You think?