The thought of continually eating something like macaroni, spat out by machinery, fills me with fear and revulsion, so I make macaroni sculptures. I make them and make them and then keep on making them, until I bury myself in the process. I call this 'obliteration.'
Interpretation
The quote expresses the artist's repulsion towards conventional food and her dedication to creating art as a form of expression.
Yayoi Kusama articulates her disdain for the mechanical and artificial nature of processed food, specifically macaroni, which symbolizes a lack of authenticity and creativity. In response, she turns to art, creating macaroni sculptures as a way to confront her fears and revulsion. The process of making these sculptures becomes a form of catharsis for her, leading to what she defines as 'obliteration'βa complete immersion in her artistic process that allows her to escape the conventional and embrace her unique vision.
In practice
In a discussion about the importance of creativity in overcoming fears, one might reference Kusama's quote.
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. Round, soft, colourful, senseless and unknowing. Polka-dots can't stay alone; like the communicative life of people, two or three polka-dots become movement... Polka-dots are a way to infinity.
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.
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.
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.
Animation is about creating the illusion of life. And you can't create it if you don't have one.
They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art.
Art is not in the ...eye of the beholder. It's in the soul of the artist.
I intend to be making films until I'm an old lady. So, if God willing I get there, I need to create a paradigm for myself where I can make it regardless of whether or not they still like what I'm making.
It is not my job to compare my movies. I don't like to compare my films with other movies because I don't really have that perspective. It is an intellectual exercise, but it doesn't intuitively come to me.
I began to realize that the camera sees the world differently than the human eye and that sometimes those differences can make a photograph more powerful than what you actually observed.
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