43+ Yayoi Kusama Quotes: Discover The Power Of The Polka Dot

Yayoi Kusama is obsessed with one thing, the humble polka dot.

Yayoi Kusama has brought the polka dot to life with Avant Garde and organic sculptures. Yayoi Kusama from Japan has made bold statements all around the world. Yayoi Kusama birthday is on 22 March 1929.

Yayoi Kusama’s quotes and inspiration comes from a unique psychological standpoint that revolves around a difficult childhood. Drawing and painting was suggested to work as a system to channel the vivid visions that seemed to consume Yayoi Kusama. It was in this practice that she found her salvation.

The polka dot is something we take for granted. But Yayoi Kusama has brought depth and life to it with her works.

It is a constant reminder to the viewers that even the simplest of things can be what you need to make a difference. Her bold expressions and colorful illusions earned her a spot in exhibitions and museums around the world.

When someone of such genius speaks, people tend to listen. An attempt to imitate, understand and even become one of the greats mean we need to understand what they say. Yayoi Kusama was a woman of many colors and her words are sure to inspire. Below we have compiled some of the best Kusama quotes.

You may also check out - Jackson Pollock quotes and Andy Warhol quotes.

Yayoi Kusama Quotes About Dots Being Symbols

It is fairly evident that the polka dot plays a huge role in Yayoi Kusama's life, both professionally and personally. The depth and understanding of such a basic element have increased ten-fold once Kusama began to work with it. It was no longer an element of design or pattern on a fabric, it was a metaphor for everyday life.

Kusuma doesn’t hold back when it comes to the volume or statement colors of polka dots she uses in her sculptures, paintings and illusions. The sheer boldness does not go unexplained.

Her words remind us about our own lives and ensures we step back and think about what type of polka dot we want with us in a journey we cannot take alone.

The use of polka dots is effortless. Almost as if the art subconsciously becomes one with the dots. The use directly translates to the universe and the life around us through Kusama’s own two eyes. Below we have compiled Yayoi Kusama quotes about polka dots.

1. “Since my childhood, I have always made works with polka dots. Earth, moon, sun and human beings all represent dots; a single particle among billions.”

2. “Polka dots are fabulous.”

3. “With just one polka dot, nothing can be achieved.”

4. "A polka-dot has the form of the sun, which is a symbol of the energy of the whole world and our living life, and also the form of the moon, which is calm."

5. "Polka dots can't stay alone. When we obliterate nature and our bodies with polka dots we become part of the unity of our environments."

6. “My life is a dot lost among thousands of other dots.”

7. "I am just another dot in the world"

8. “After all, well, moon is a polka dot, sun is a polka dot, and then, the earth where we live is also a polka dot.”

9. “Our earth is only one polka dot among a million stars in our cosmos.”

Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirror Quotes

The most famous work of Yayoi Kusama around the world to this day remains to be the Infinity Mirror Room installation. Born in 1929, 22nd of March, meant the life changing break through occurred to her when Kusuma was at a young age of 36 years old.

The idea was to play with repetition. Her accumulated art was multiplied into infinity with the help of mirrors to give viewers more than an experience. Here is a Kusama quote on her art.

10. “Suppose I put polka dots all over my body and then cover my background completely with polka dots.”

Yayoi Kusama Universe quotes

Yayoi Kusama today stays alone in a psychiatric facility in Tokyo and creates art within the hospital grounds. Personal loss, a cheating father and a domineering mother who abused Kusama when she was young. Simply loving art made for a difficult time to achieve mental well-being. But it also made it Yayoi stronger.

Kusama quotes from her limited interviews show that she isn’t one to shy away from talking about her difficult past. In fact, she prides herself in being able to convert such a low point in her life to heights of success and inspiration with her work. If this doesn’t inspire you, I don’t know what will.

11. “I fight pain, anxiety, and fear every day, and the only method I have found that relieves my illness is to keep creating art..”

12. “Accumulation is the result of my obsession and that philosophy is the main theme of my art.”

13. "Become one with eternity. Become part of your environment."

14. “My art originates from hallucinations only I can see.”

15. "It doesn't matter at all for me that I work in hospital or anywhere with limited space. Every day, I'm creating new works with all my might."

16. “Because my mother was so vehemently against my becoming an artist, I became emotionally unstable and suffered a nervous breakdown.”

17. “I translate the hallucinations and obsessional images that plague me into sculptures and paintings.”

18. “I would like to try harder to establish my thought and philosophy strongly and to go back to the universe with my love.”

19. “One day I was looking at the red flower patterns of the tablecloth on a table, and when I looked up I saw the same pattern covering the ceiling, the windows and the walls, and finally all over the room, my body and the universe.”

20. “The machinery of the sky that confounds us on earth with endless transformations of clouds in the light of dawn does not compare to the extraordinary tenacity of human beings.”

Yayoi Kusuma Quotes Infinity And Her Art

Yayoi Kusama oozes confidence and a healthy level of respect to the great unknown beyond herself.

She is aware of the impact she has made on the world of art and otherwise, gathering large amounts of people who follow her work. She is also aware that the universe played a part in allowing her to realize art is the path for her.

But most importantly, she was never afraid to put in the work. Hard work did not scare her and it shows as bright as the colors she uses. Becoming a well-known female artist in the time of Andy Warhol and such is one for the history books.

Her style of art emerged during the hippie counter culture movement in New York. Clever pop art inspired use of polka dots and conceptual illusions have made her an irreplaceable part of the world.

Here we have quotes by Yayoi Kusama that follow her spirit that made her like what she is today.

21. “I want to create a thousand paintings, maybe two thousand paintings, as many as I can draw.”

22. “I, Kusama, am the modern Alice in Wonderland.”

23. “I want to become more famous, even more famous.”

24. “Every time I have had a problem, I have confronted it with the ax of art.”

25. “I wanted to start a revolution, using art to build the sort of society I myself envisioned.”

26. “If it were not for art, I would have killed myself a long time ago.”

27. “More and more I think about the role of the arts, and as an artist, I think that it's important that I share the love and peace.”

28. “I believe my art will last 500 years, 1,000 years and forever.”

29. “Some critics understand my art correctly, while some don't. I simply ignore the reviews written by the latter.”

30. “I have a large number of enthusiastic admirers of my art. And they all sing a hymn in praise from the bottom of their hearts for my art.”

31. “I'm in the last stage of my artistic life. But I'm so busy that I can't even think of dying.”

32. "I believe that eyes are very important motifs. That's something that can discern the peace and love."

33. “When I paint, some things come out.”

34. “The older I become, and the closer death approaches, the brighter my life gets day by day.”

35. "I have a flood of ideas in my mind. I just follow my vision."

36. “You should create a work that is so valuable it might eventually sell at a high price, but you've got to concentrate on how you create that artwork.”

37. “I have done all the work myself, not assistants.”

38. “In front of paint brushes and canvas, my hands react to them and make my work before I think of anything.”

39. "I have been taking every step toward the future every day through making many paintings and sculptures with my deep emotion hidden in my life."

Quotes From Interviews

Kusama’s inspirations, the place she considered home and her views on royalty. Random little thoughts and an in-depth understanding of her hallucinations, aka her inspiration, that give us a deeper insight into the eccentric human being she was.

40. “The thought of continually eating something like macaroni, spat out by machinery, fills me with fear and revulsion, so I make macaroni sculptures.”

41. “New York is the place that made my and other artists' dreams come true.”

42. “My mother was against me being an artist. She just wanted me to marry a rich man.”

43. “I hope royalty continues forever.”

44. “The reason I collaborate with Louis Vuitton is that Louis Vuitton is number one in the world, and I am honored to work with them.”

45. “I found this very avant-garde American art book that had information about Georgia O'Keeffe. I was very much impressed by her.”

46. “The country of Britain is wonderful because of its royalty.”

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Yayoi Kusama quotes, then why not take a look at [funny artistic quotes] and [art quotes for kids].