Yayoi Kusama (1929)
Visual artist
Yayoi Kusama (1929) was born in Matsumoto, in rural Japan, into a conservative family that did not accept her vocation for the arts. Her work combines several art forms, such as collage, painting, sculpture, performance art and environmental installations, in which the artist's trademark is clearly visible: an obsession with dots and circles. At the age of 10, she began painting her characteristic infinite dots (the famous polka dots), first in watercolor, pastel and oil.
Her creations draw on influences from minimalism, pop art, surrealism and abstract expressionism.
Today, Yayoi Kusama is celebrated as one of the most important living visual artists, and her exhibitions draw crowds of fans around the world.
The move to the United States
In 1957, at the age of 28, Yayoi decided to move to the United States. She settled in New York at the invitation of the American painter Georgia O'Keeffe. In a letter to the painter she so admired, Yayoi confessed:
I am only at the first step of a long and difficult life to become a painter. Would you kindly show me the way?
Welcomed by the American painter, she took part in a series of pop art events in the United States. She exhibited innovative pieces featuring mirror effects and electric light.
Yayoi lived through the counterculture and took part in a series of controversial happenings involving naked participants painted with her characteristic colored polka dots.
The Japanese artist was also an activist in the anti-war movement.
The return to Japan
In 1973, Yayoi decided to return to Japan. At that time, in addition to paintings, performances and sculptures, she also began writing novels and poems.
Even while living in Japan, she continued to show her work around the world in solo and group exhibitions, especially in the Americas and Europe.
Works
Her works are generally based on repeated patterns and are marked by the famous dots (the polka dots).
Speaking about her creative process in an interview, the artist stated:
I am an obsessive artist. I consider myself a heretic of the art world. I think only of myself when I make my work.
From 1994 onwards, Yayoi began creating outdoor sculptures. Since 2011, she has collaborated on prints for Louis Vuitton at the invitation of Marc Jacobs.
Mental illness
Because of the mental illness she has lived with since childhood, Yayoi has lived in a psychiatric hospital for more than forty years.
In 1975, the artist chose to live voluntarily in a psychiatric hospital in Tokyo. Today, she has a studio near the hospital, where she goes to work every day.
My art originates from hallucinations that only I can see. I translate the hallucinations and obsessive images into sculptures and paintings. However, I also create works when I am not having hallucinations (...) my work is an expression of my life, particularly of my mental illness.
Personal life
Yayoi Kusama has never been known to have a romantic relationship. Living alone, the Japanese visual artist seems to have devoted all her energy to her creations.
About the films
Documentary Kusama: Infinity
In 2018, the documentary Kusama: Infinity, directed by Heather Lenz, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the United States.
It is the second biographical documentary about Yayoi's life; the first, Yayoi Kusama, I Adore Myself, was released in 2008 and had a more limited release, restricted to Japan.
