I, Kusama, am the modern Alice in Wonderland.
When I was a child, I used to paint intently. The older I become, and the closer death approaches, the brighter my life gets day by day.
I have been using polka dots since I was a very young child. Only after that, it seems, have they been used throughout the rest of the art world.
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.
I have done all the work myself, not assistants. That's why I'm in a wheelchair: I've been doing it physically - it's hard labour - throughout my life.
In my home country, there was a little shop with old books, but it was really in the countryside. You couldn't find English books. I found this very avant-garde American art book that had information about Georgia O'Keeffe. I was very much impressed by her.
I think I will be able to, in the end, rise above the clouds and climb the stairs to Heaven, and I will look down on my beautiful life.
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.
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.
People ask about art and commercialism. I think that if someone tries to sell their work at a high price, that is the wrong way of doing it.
Certainly, I devote my energy to both telling my personal life story and seeking self- obliteration. However, I will not destroy myself through art.
I believe that eyes are very important motifs. That's something that can discern the peace and love.
If there's a cat, I obliterate it by putting polka dot stickers on it. I obliterate a horse by putting polka dot stickers on it. And I obliterated myself by putting the same polka dot stickers on myself.
With just one polka dot, nothing can be achieved. In the universe, there is the sun, the moon, the earth, and hundreds of millions of stars. All of us live in the unfathomable mystery and infinitude of the universe. Pursuing 'philosophy of the universe' through art under such circumstances has led me to what I call 'stereotypical repetition.'
I love Damien Hirst. I respect his work a great deal, and I am happy that the polka dots I started using have become a symbol of love and peace around the world with everybody joining hands to use them in this way.
Polka dots are fabulous.
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.
Suppose I put polka dots all over my body and then cover my background completely with polka dots. The polka dots on my body, merging with those in the background, create an optically strange scene.
I wanted to start a revolution, using art to build the sort of society I myself envisioned.
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.
