Celebrating an unusual octogenarian

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.

Read more: http://www.wmagazine.com/culture/art-and-design/2012/06/yayoi-kusama-japanese-artist

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

Having a conscience

The Sixth Day Bird

Chester Lowe

The Creator, creating the beasts of the field,

In a moment of whimsy could not help but yield

To an urge, and what could be fitter?

"I'll make Me one final whimsical critter!"

He began with the torso, spheroidal, prolate,

With legs short and stubby and toes six or eight.

The head wears a helmet with a strawberry top

And down-dangling wattles either straight or alop.

Most birds are melodious, with a tune for each

He endowed this one with a god-awful screech.

They seldom walk – 'tis a run or a trot,

Snatching bugs left and right, one for each polka-dot.

Their mentality makes them insatiably curious.

They greet things strange with clamor furious

He made 'em gregarious to run in a flock

Then, wearily spent, He looked at his clock.

The Sixth Day ebbed into night when He

Grinned as he rested and called it a GUINEA!

Throughout the winter small flocks of guinea fowl have daily been trotting across my lawn – east early in the morning and west late in the afternoon. Pecking at edibles and chirping in their funny way, never really taking notice of me sitting or standing on the stoep with a cup of coffee or sigarette, always looking at them: these peculiar fat, dotted birds that make me think of my father.

My father, the hunter, who loved nature, wildlife and 4x4 off-road trucks and Landcruisers. A larger-than-life, big-hearted, jovial man who took us, his family, on wilderness safari’s during the July holidays. Hunting season and into Botswana's unchartered, rough country where lions roared and hyenas laughed in the dark just outside the campfire light.

During our daily outings, my dad would regularly point at flocks of guinea fowl saying: "Ah! The hunt is still on, look, the guineas are still flocking."

Since the end of August the guinea-flocks here have been splitting up – no more early morning and late afternoon trotting or meandering across my lawn. Instead, a frenzied cocks-chasing-hens have been going on, and just as suddenly as the chasing started, it stopped. My dad would have commented: "Ah, look, the guineas have paired up." And he would have oiled his guns and packed them away until the next season when the chicks were raised and guinea fowl were flocking again.

Just breathing

Living alone – and loving it . . .

Margaret Manning says: Midlife women are doing it again. As we did in our 20s, we are questioning fundamentals, challenging the status quo, being stubbornly bohemian and embracing the unconventional. Boomers are tenaciously breaking down stereotypes about aging and redefining life after 60. However, this raises an important question. Now that we are living longer, healthier and more independent lives, where and how are we all going to live? Thanks to new communications technologies, generally better health and a multitude of transportation options, more women over 60 than ever are abandoning cities and deciding to live alone.

Yes, we are consciously choosing to live alone, or at least I am here on the southern tip of Africa – especially now that my children are grown up and living independently.

Loving it! as Margaret states, is often, but not always true for me. That is why I have decided to chronicle the joys and sorrows, the ups and downs of living alone in a wildlife conservation estate, 20 km from the nearest town with just a hand-full of mostly retired, permanent residents.

It is truly beautiful here – peaceful, safe and quiet.