Yayoi Kusama (86 years
old) is acknowledged as one of the most important living artists to come out of
Japan, and an important voice of the avant-garde.
She started to paint using polka dots and nets as motifs at
around age ten, and created fantastic paintings in watercolors, pastels and oils.
In 1977, after returning from New York, Kusama
checked herself into the Seiwa Hospital for the Mentally Ill and eventually
took up permanent residence. She has been living at the hospital since, by
choice. Her studio, where she has continued to produce work since the
mid-1970s, is a short distance from the hospital in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
"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."
Fame Becomes Her
By Arthur Lubow
I entered the studio of Yayoi Kusama
like Alice wandering into Wonderland. The generic concrete three-story building
is located across the avenue from a private Tokyo mental hospital, in which
this 83-year-old woman—who is widely thought to be Japan’s greatest living
artist—has resided voluntarily for 35 years. For a few minutes I waited as the
finishing touches of her maquillage were applied. And then the diminutive and
self-aggrandizing Kusama appeared, made up outrageously in a vermilion wig and
matching lipstick and dress, her expression frozen in an intense gaze that
blended imperiousness with traces of confusion. Assistants watched anxiously.
Solicitous of her frailty, they also feared her unpredictable “Off with their
heads!”-like flashes of anger. They were well aware that she has fired her
longtime secretary three times and, for good measure, once impulsively
dismissed her primary art dealer. She is the Red Queen come to life.
Thougts on Yayoi Kusama
There
is something to be said about a single-minded dotted life like Yayoi's – first of
all, to keep on repeating out loudly what you want, in her case fame, does come
true. The power of words: What you say is what you will get.
Secondly,
one has to admire this woman, however crazy you might think she is and/or dislike
her work, she has persisted in her quest and has achieved what she set out to
do.
Whatever
her reasons and motivations – I find her diligence and perseverance inspiring.
"I think I will be able to, in the end, rise above the clouds and climb
the stairs to Heaven, and I will look down on my beautiful life."
Yayoi Kusama
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