Yayoi Kusama // Dots (BBC), 2001

  • Yayoi Kusama, DOTS [BBC], 2001. Acrylic on canvas, 27.3 × 22 cm. A painting that uses Kusama’s signature polka dots to explore obsession, self-dissolution, and infinity.
    Dots [BBC], 2001
    Acrylic on canvas, 27.3 × 22 cm (10 3/4 × 8 11/16 in.)
    © Yayoi Kusama. Image reproduced for educational and informational purposes only.
     
    Dots [BBC] highlights Kusama’s most recognisable visual language: the polka dot. For Kusama, dots have never been merely decorative. They represent both the microscopic and the cosmic, dissolving the boundary between individual form and infinite space. In this canvas, the repetition of dots transforms the surface into a field of rhythm and accumulation, embodying the obsessive compulsion that has defined her practice for decades.
     
    The work reflects Kusama’s belief that polka dots could connect the personal with the universal. Each mark symbolises the dissolution of the self into a larger whole, a gesture rooted in her hallucinatory visions yet expanded into a visual metaphor for infinity. By the early 2000s, Kusama’s dot paintings had become international icons, appearing in canvases, installations, sculptures, and fashion collaborations that carried her imagery to audiences across the world.
  • “Polka dots are a way to infinity.”
     – Yayoi Kusama
    The polka dot, born from her hallucinatory visions and early experiments in painting and sculpture, became both a deeply personal language and a universally legible sign. By reducing the world to repeating points, Kusama dissolved distinctions between self and environment, creating a sense of infinite continuity. At the same time, the motif’s adaptability allowed it to travel beyond the canvas, appearing in immersive installations, fashion collaborations, and public art commissions that cemented her place in global popular culture.