Yayoi Kusama: ‘A letter from Georgia O’Keeffe gave me the courage to leave home’

This article is more than 8 years old

The artist on a miserable childhood, moving from Japan to the US, and pumpkins

Rosanna Greenstreet

Saturday 21 May 2016

Born in Japan, Yayoi Kusama, 87, studied painting in Kyoto before moving to New York in 1957. She has staged polka-dot orgies and naked anti-tax protests; her work spans painting, drawing, sculpture and performance, as well as literature, fashion and product design. Her latest paintings, pumpkin sculptures and mirror rooms are showing at the Victoria Miro gallery in London from 25 May. Since 1977, she has lived voluntarily in a psychiatric hospital in Japan.

When were you happiest?
I am always happiest when I am making my art.

What is your greatest fear?
Solitude. Though I have a fear of death, I’d like to keep my spirits high enough so as not to fear this.

What is your earliest memory?
Making paper works with polka dots painted with my fingers when I was a very little girl.

Which living person do you most admire, and why?
I am in my ninth decade, so most people I have admired are no longer alive.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
When I am not working, my thoughts can turn very dark.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Violence and intolerance.

Property aside, what’s the most expensive thing you’ve bought?
I don’t have much need for possessions.

What is your most treasured possession?
My next painting.

What do you most dislike about your appearance?
Nothing.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?
Eating cake.

If you could bring something extinct back to life, what would you choose?
I don’t know if I want to bring something back, but I would like to see nuclear weapons become extinct in my lifetime.

Which book changed your life?
When I was young, a stroke of luck led me to a book with paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe. I dreamed of going to America and escaping my family, even though I knew no one there. After seeing her paintings in this book, I wrote to her. She responded with great kindness and generosity. Her letter gave me the courage I needed to leave for New York.

What is the worst thing anyone’s said to you?
My mother did not want me to be an artist. When I left for New York, she told me never to set foot in her house again.

Is it better to give or to receive?
Give.

What do you owe your parents?
Not much. I had a miserable childhood. My father was unfaithful and my mother was angry and violent.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My love for humanity and for the world has always been the driving force and energy behind all that I do.

What does love feel like?
Look at my art: all my life, I have been expressing love through my art.

What keeps you awake at night?
I am an insomniac, so I often draw and write at night.

What song would you like played at your funeral?
Yayoi Kusama’s Manhattan Suicide Addict.

Tell us a joke
I don’t know any. But pumpkins have always made me smile: they are the most humorous of vegetables.

THE GUARDIAN