Yayoi Kusama, renowned Japanese artist known to some as 'the princess of polka dots' died in hospital on August 14, as confirmed by her studio this week. She was 97, and for most of her life she said there was one reason she was still alive. That was creating art.
Kusama chose to spend more than five decades living in a Tokyo psychiatric facility. She worked at a studio across the road, and consistently described her artistic practice as more than a career. She described it as the only thing that kept her pain, anxiety and fear under control.
When talking about the art itself, her tone shifted to something much lighter – she spoke of polka dots gleefully and with love. This is a philosophy she stuck to all her life, outlasting the practice of most artists. Art was a survival tool whilst being the thing that delighted her most.
Here, I've pulled together the words she used to explain why she kept making work, a series of quotes many creatives might relate to and be inspired by.
Art as survival
"I fight pain, anxiety, and fear every day, and the only method I have found that relieves my illness is to keep creating art." – Infinity Net: The Autobiography of Yayoi Kusama (Tate Publishing, 2013, p.60).
"I've sought for truth of art with an ambition and fought like hell all my life to accomplish my purpose as a human being." – From an interview with Tate in 2015, quoted in Hyperallergic's obituary this week.
Creating to the end
"I paint every day. I am going to continue creating a world in awe of life, embracing all the messages of love, peace and universe." – From a 2023 interview with The Art Newspaper, timed to her M+ Hong Kong retrospective catalogue.
"I do not feel the difference between my earlier creation and now. I never run out of ideas so I shall continue to show new things." – Same 2023 Art Newspaper interview.
"I will keep on making my art until the day I die. And even after I die, my spirit will keep creating new art." – Quoted in Artnet's obituary this week.
Legacy and mortality
On winning Japan's Order of Culture in 2016: "I feel there is little left in my life, but I am now still fighting to the death for my art," and "I am giving all I have so that many people will continue to be interested in my art, even after I am dead." – Reported by NBC News.
"I want to create things that are infinite, expand beyond the canvas." – Artnet obituary this week.
On process and pure delight in making
"Polka dots are fabulous"
"I want to create a thousand paintings, maybe two thousand paintings, as many as I can draw," she continued.
"I will keep painting until I die."
– 2012 interview with the Associated Press.
On her life
Asked whether she'd accept a feminist reading of her work, she said: "I am too busy with myself to worry about a man-woman problem. Since I find a refuge in my work, I cannot be bullied by men."
On her strict, matriarchal upbringing: "In my childhood, I experienced so much hardship, all thanks to 'feminism.' My mother wielded a tremendous amount of authority and my father was always dispirited."
Interview with curator Akira Tatehata
Kusama spent close to a century using art as fuel to keep her alive, and as the thing she loved doing most. She kept working right up until her final years.
