Considered one of the most important contemporary artists around. Yayoi Kusama has been delighting the art world for over 60 years, but there’s so much more to her than polka dots and mirrors…
Who is she?
Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist who is sometimes called ‘the princess of polka dots’. Although she makes lots of different types of art – paintings, sculptures, performances and installations – they have one thing in common, DOTS!
What’s with all the dots?
Yayoi Kusama tells the story of how when she was a little girl she had a hallucination that freaked her out. She was in a field of flowers when they all started talking to her! The heads of flowers were like dots that went on as far as she could see, and she felt as if she was disappearing or as she calls it ‘self-obliterating’ – into this field of endless dots. This weird experience influenced most of her later work.
By adding all-over marks and dots to her paintings, drawings, objects and clothes she feels as if she is making them (and herself) melt into, and become part of, the bigger universe. She said:
‘Our earth is only one polka dot among a million stars in the cosmos. Polka dots are a way to infinity. When we obliterate nature and our bodies with polka dots, we become part of the unity of our environment’.
She also creates environments of dots so that we can experience this feeling of self-obliteration too. She calls these rooms her ‘Infinity Rooms’, and creates them by installing hundreds of flashing coloured LED lights into mirrored rooms. The pinpricks of light in the dark room reflect endlessly in the mirrors, making you feel like you are in an apparently endless space. The dots surround and engulf you…it’s very hard to tell where you end and where the rest of the room begins!
How did she start?
Yayoi was born in Japan in 1929. She loved drawing and painting and although her parents didn’t want her to be an artist, she was determined. When her mum tore up her drawings, she made more. When she could not afford to buy art materials, she used mud and old sacks to make art. This is a drawing she made of her mum when she was 10-years-old.
Eventually Yayoi Kusama persuaded her parents to let her go to art school and study painting.
In the late 1950s she moved to New York as lots of the most exciting art seemed to be happening there. It must have been a bit frightening arriving in a big city with such a different culture from what she knew. But she was determined to conquer New York. She later wrote about her feisty attitude: ‘I would stand up to them all with a single polka dot’.
She had the first of many exhibitions there in 1959. She met and inspired important artists including Donald Judd, Andy Warhol and Joseph Cornell, and her art was a part of exciting art developments such as pop art and minimalism. She was also one of the first artists to experiment with performance and action art.
As well as being an art pioneer, Yayoi Kusama put her creativity into other things including music, design, writing and fashion.
Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist known for her vibrant, highly patterned, and often surreal artworks. She was born in 1929 in Matsumoto, Japan, and began her artistic career in the 1950s. Kusama is considered one of the most important contemporary artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Kusama’s work spans several decades and encompasses a variety of mediums, including painting, sculpture, installation, and performance art. Her signature style often features bold, repetitive patterns and shapes, often featuring polka dots, which she calls “infinity nets.” Kusama’s work is often described as immersive and visually striking, drawing the viewer into a world of vibrant color, patterns, and shapes.
One of Kusama’s most famous artworks is her Infinity Mirrors exhibit, which features a series of interconnected rooms, each containing a different mirror installation. The viewer is able to enter each room and experience the reflections and distortions of the space around them, creating a sense of infinite depth and endlessness.
Kusama has also been known for her work in the field of performance art, staging happenings and events in which the audience is invited to participate.
Kusama’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, and she has received numerous awards and accolades for her contributions to the art world. Her work continues to be celebrated for its ability to captivate audiences and challenge traditional notions of art and beauty.
Learn more about this fascinating artist
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/yayoi-kusama-8094/obsessed-polka-dots
