Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama, born in 1929, is a Japanese artist that has been working since the age of ten, producing a large body of work over this time that includes paintings, drawings, sculptures, collages and large scale installations as well as fashion design, fiction writing and commercial collaborations with the wider fashion world. Her recurring themes of self-obliteration, compulsion and obsession have led her to receive treatment and spend large periods of time in a specialist hospital. Now in her nineties, Kusama chooses to reside at this hospital in Tokyo, with her studio close by.

In 1957 she went to work in the United States, and in the 1960s orchestrated body painted ‘happenings’, fashion shows and anti-war demonstrations. The 1970s saw a return to Japan and Kusama focus on writing. From the 1980s to the present day her creative time has been divided between writing, painting, sculptures and outdoor installations. She has latterly found worldwide fame and recognition through her immersive large scale works in public places which have included painting large polka dots onto trees and other surfaces.

"...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, colorful, senseless and unknowing. Polka-dots become movement... Polka dots are a way to infinity."

The accumulation and repetition of pattern is an essential theme in Kusama’s art and beliefs, where she strives to show the passing of the self or individual into infinity – self obliteration.

Her current exhibition at the Tate Modern in London, which runs until 5^th June, seeks to provide a representative selection of her art, focusing on the start of her work in its various forms, using a series of rooms to separate these forms and provide a loose chronological ‘story’ of progression.

Room 6.Walking Piece (1966)

A memorable performance documented through an interesting series of colour slides, showing Kusama walking around the hard streets of New York in a delicate pink kimono, with her long hair in plaits and carrying a large parasol bedecked with colourful flowers. The combination of blistering hot urban weather, monochromes, hard angles, rough textures of the (masculine) industrial streets and buildings is contrasted against her soft figured femininity, colourful appearance and exotic demeanour. Ideas of perception as the ‘outsider’, assimilation and contrasts are explored.

Room 14. Infinity Mirrored Room - Filled with the Brilliance of Life

A wonderful installation that plays on the artist’s view of losing one’s self into infinity. The visitor follows a route of twists and turns through a room that is essentially dark, but that is hung with what seem like thousands of brightly coloured little neon balls. The walls and ceiling are lined with dark mirrored glass, sections of the black floor with still dark water. The overall effect is one of overwhelming happiness and optimism brought on by the delicacy and colourfulness of the neon balls reflected by the mirrors, and seeing one’s self disappearing into the setting, giving the idea of a never ending space or infinity.

This short introduction to Yayoi Kusama, prompted by the current exhibition at the Tate Modern is regrettably a much abbreviated snapshot. Her interesting work is internationally recognised and has received many awards and honours. Follow up visits to this exhibition, visits to other gallery collections, online & book research are all recommended to further enjoy the work of the enigmatic Kusama and to learn much more of her amazing creativity.

pdf for download: http://www.artbooksdecor.com/pdfs/YayoiKusamaart.pdf