Yayoi Kusama is so famous because her long career, spanning more than six decades, has seen her contribute to major 20th and 21st century art trends in several countries.
In the 1960s, Kusama lived in New York City and was lover and confidante to Joseph Cornell, groundbreaking collage sculptor. Cornell himself was at the center of a neo-Dadaist circle in New York. Kusama’s colorful geometric work, featuring her now-iconic polka dots, fit with the then-trending Pop Art scene. Kusama also staged Happenings and Be-ins in Central Park.
In 1977 however, Kusama’s fragile mental and emotional state caused her to seek permanent refuge in a mental institution in Tokyo. Since early childhood Kusama has been subject to vivid, uncontrollable hallucinations of pulsating dot patterns covering her field of vision. Arguably, her relatively stable and quiet existence in the asylum provided Kusama the time and space she needed to begin to create her unique and wide-ranging body of work.
Kusama’s work can be read on several levels. It is colorful, trippy, shiny, and just plain fun to be around. On a deeper level, her work provides a stage for meditations on the self as it relates to micro and macro worlds.
In 1993, Kusama was chosen to represent Japan at the Venice Bienniale, the world’s most prestigious fine art venue. She was the first woman ever to receive that honor.
Kusama is best known for large-scale installations like the “Infinity Mirror Rooms” series, which has consisted of a series of rooms decorated with giant polka dots, mirrors, lights, and colorful objects like her polka-dot-decorated pumpkins. Her 2017 worldwide touring exhibition "Infinity Mirrors" received both critical and popular acclaim, and Kusama was anointed the most-visited and most popular artist of the time.
Today Kusama continues to produce brilliant and varied work in many media, including works on paper, installations, and even illustrations for Lewis Carroll's “Alice in Wonderland” using her signature polka dots. Similar to another powerhouse 20th century sculptor, Louise Bourgeois, Kusama achieved worldwide fame late in life and breaks new ground even as she approaches age 90.
https://hirshhorn.si.edu/kusama/infinity-rooms/
https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/yayoi-kusama-infinity-mirrors-blockbuster-exhibition-608276
It appears that Yayoi Kusama's fame was fueled in part by her advent into New York City's avant-garde art scene in the 1960s.
Sometime in the late 1950s, Kusama wrote to famed artist Georgia O'Keefe, who to her surprise sent a reply. O'Keefe was key to Kusama's entrance into the glitzy world of New York art. Upon her arrival in the United States, however, Kusama didn't immediately venture to New York City. Instead, she made her way to Seattle and showed off her Infinity Nets paintings at a small art gallery there.
Kusama's "infinity art" paintings involve a nonlinear profusion of dots that epitomize the concepts of infinity, timelessness, and spiritual obliteration. Kusama credits Donald Judd, a minimalist artist in his own right, for her eventual fame. In truth, Judd's profusely positive review of Kusama's art at the Brata Gallery in 1959 may well have propelled Kusama to the forefront of New York City's art scene. To read about Kusama's relationship with Judd, please refer to Donald Judd and Yayoi Kusama from the Judd Foundation.
For more about Kusama's art, the links below should be helpful.
http://nymag.com/arts/art/features/yayoi-kusama-2012-7/
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/sep/30/yayoi-kusama-museum-tokyo
It's difficult to fully grasp why any particular artist—or celebrity—acquires their fame. Especially considering that art is a subjective field, it's important to look at both the art itself and the public persona of the artist to gather which, if not both, created the fame.
In the case of Yayoi Kusama, the contemporary Japanese sculptor who also works in film, painting, and other fields of art, both the art and the artist are worthy of fame. Beginning her art career in the avant-garde and conceptualism fields, she focused heavily on a strict contempt for sexuality, which is expressed in her work. This, along with feminism and surrealism, acted as an important focus of her work. Particularly finding success in the 1960s and 70s, during which the sexual revolution was coming into full swing, her art proved to be provocative, yet timely.
In addition to her art, Kusama organized bizarre instances of performance art, particularly in popular areas of New York, to further create a recognizable name as an avant-garde art figure. Having experimented with film, fashion, literature, and other fields certainly helped spread the word of her talent throughout many different scenes.
In Tokyo, Japan, there is a newly opened Yayoi Kusama museum dedicated to showcasing some of her most acclaimed pieces!
No comments:
Post a Comment