Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama … in her own words
Yayoi Kusama is poised to open her own museum in Tokyo on October 1. Here are some lesser known Kusama facts for new fans
Yayoi Kusama was named by The Art magazine as the world’s most popular artist in 2015 and, in 1993, she was the first to represent Japan solo at the Venice Biennale. She’s done fashion collaborations with Marc Jacobs and Issey Miyake. Now, at the age of 88, she’s opening her own museum in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district.
The Yayoi Kusama museum, designed by architecture firm Kume Sekkei, will open on October 1. If you find yourself in the United States or Canada before that, you might be able to catch her touring exhibition, “Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors” which is making its way across North America.
So let’s brush up on some Kusama-isms: who better to describe this remarkable force of creativity than the woman herself? Here are six facts to get you started:
6) She’s forthright about her mental and physical ailments – and uses them in her creative process:
“I don’t want to cure my mental problems, rather I want to utilise them as a generating force for my art.”
“My art originates from hallucinations only I can see … All my works in pastels are the products of obsessional neurosis and are therefore inextricably connected to my disease.”
5) In the 1960s in New York she directed nude “Happenings” or “Body Festivals” – as well as orgies:
“I played the role of high priestess and painted the nude bodies of models on the stage with polka dots in five colours. When a Happening was staged at Times Square under my direction, a huge crowd flocked to it. I was never nude, publicly or privately … The studio would have been thrown into utter confusion if I were arrested.”