Yayoi Kusama: Outstanding Artist for All of Infinity

Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, Victoria Miro Gallery, London and David Zwirner, New York.

Photo by of Vegard Kleven/HOK

If you were in Seattle this summer or followed anyone on Instagram that was, you know that Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrors exhibit blew up. Photos of people in her famed Infinity Rooms plastered our feeds, and even though each one was basically the same, they never grew old for me. Having grown up on the eastside and explored exhibits at the SAM for most of my life, I have never seen an exhibit blow up and sell out for as many months as Kusama’s did, and she deserves every bit of fame she gets as one of the most talented artists of our time.

I had my first glimpse into her work in Sarah Thornton’s 33 Artists in Three Acts, which is a very good read about contemporary art, wherein I learned that Kusama chooses to reside in a mental institution in Japan. She maintains a studio nearby where she works all day and returns to the institution in the evening, completely entangled with and fueled by her artwork. However, this is but a small polka dot in the Infinity Net that is her life, which I learned in her autobiography of the same title.

Book Cover of Infinity Net by Yayoi Kusama

Kusama knew she wanted to be an artist at a young age, carrying a sketchbook with her wherever she went and filling her room with drawings stacked to the ceiling. “All I did every day was draw… My main intention has always been to record the images before they vanish.” One might compare this statement to Monet’s attempts to capture a moment of light in his impressionist paintings, but I assure you, Kusama is an artist all on her own. In her autobiography, she discusses the visions and psychosis she experienced throughout her life, from talking flowers to patterns ‘obliterating’ the room and space around her, greatly influencing her artwork.

Many artists grapple with their inner psychological turmoil under the surface of their work, but Kusama’s trademark is bringing her complexes and fears to the forefront as her subjects. Her father was a womanizer and during her childhood, Kusama’s mother made her follow him and report back on his infidelity, causing Kusama’s great fear of phalluses and sex. This heavily informed her identity as a woman and an artist, inspiring her to grapple with it through sculpture and performance art.

Accumulation No. 2, courtesy of SAM, 1962

“By covering my entire body with polka dots, the covering the background with polka dots as well, I find self-obliteration… In the case of the phallic soft sculptures, the protrusions are positive and the spaces between them the negative. The positive and negative become one and consolidate my expression. And that is when I achieve obliteration.”

Phalli’s Field (1965)

Courtesy of SAM

She felt held back and repressed in Japan and after corresponding with Georgia O’Keefe she arranged to travel and hold her first solo exhibit in the U.S. at the Dusanne Gallery here in Seattle. Showcasing twenty-six watercolors and pastels, she began her career, viewing our city as “the first step in [her] reckless journey,” knowing full well that her final destination was New York. She set high goals for herself and pushed through poverty and pain to climb the mountain she could see in the distance.

With Zoe Dusanne, courtesy of SAM and Dusanne Gallery, 1957

Kusama’s “Infinity Net” paintings established her in the avant-garde movement in the late 1950’s and 1960’s, allowing her to move into soft sculptures and installation works with great success. She describes being swept up into, and accepted by, the hippie movement at the time, surrounding herself with people who loved love and were engaged in freeing the human body and soul. She staged many happenings wherein she painted polka dots on nude men and women at Central Park, Wall Street, churches, business buildings, and public places all around New York, resulting in her arrest more than once. Standing in solidarity with both the anti-war and sexual liberation movements, Kusama made a name for herself as the ‘naked artist’ and ‘polka-dot princess’ with international fame.

She broadened her work beyond happenings into Kusama Enterpises, her clothing and fashion line that made polka dotted dresses that could contain more than one person; a whole party at times. Bloomingdale’s set up a ‘Kusama Corner’ in their store to sell her work. Kusama Polka-Dot Church was established at this time as well, selling films of her happenings and directing new films like Flower Orgy which appeared at festivals and museums worldwide. She traveled the world representing both the United States and Japan in international exhibits, obliterating heteronormativity, stigmas about sex, gender norms, and spreading love and polka-dots everywhere.

Anti-War Naked Happening, from Infinity Net, 1968

Having built meaningful relationships with other artists and established international fame, she returned to Japan hoping to reconcile with the shamed reputation she had cultivated in 1973. Unfortunately, her psychosis escalated and she was never able to return to her studio in New York. Nothing stopped her from continuing her passion, however, as she is still painting, creating, and exhibiting to this day. Yayoi Kusama is an absolute legend and an inspiration to artists and citizens around the world. If you ever have the chance to see her work in person and enter her mind, I cannot recommend it enough.

“I feel how truly wonderful life is, and I tremble with undying fascination for the world of art, the only place that gives me hope and makes life worthwhile. And no matter how I may suffer for my art, I will have no regrets. This is the way I have lived my life, and it is the way I shall go on living.” – Yayoi Kusama, Infinity Net

ANNI CHRISTENSEN | Libra Sun, Cancer Rising | KXSU Art Reporter