Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929)

‘One day in New York, when I was painting nets and dots all over a canvas without a composition, my brush unconsciously went beyond the bounds of the canvas and began to cover the table, then the floor and all over the room with nets and dots...In my amazement, I looked at my hands and saw red polka dots stuck to them. I tried to chase after the red polka dots spreading from my hands and get the carmine red nets and polka dots off the windows, but they continued to proliferate threatening to bury my hands and body under them...The changes in my way of dealing with art are all the consequences of inevitability that comes from within myself.’ – Yayoi Kusama