Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese avant-garde artist, born in 1929 in Nagano Prefecture of Japan. She is widely known as a sculptor, painter, and novelist. However, the first thing that comes to mind when her name is mentioned is the polka dot style and the infinity rooms.
Kusama arrived at her dream-country – America, in 1957. An extremely high cost of living in post-war New York led Yayoi to the neurosis which was mirrored in her early works: “Before long the studio was filled with canvases, each of which was covered with nothing but nets” (Kusama 31). Those nets could expand all over her studio to infinity as her inner anxiety grew. Later it brought her success. Kusama argued in her autobiography that her dream was to “predict and measure the infinity of the unbounded universe,” and dots were the mean of expression (33). She was questioning the depth and eternity of the Universe, and one polka dot symbolized a single element in the billions of others.
However, the roots of Kusama’s style might be found earlier, in Japan. She claims that she found her method of expression when she was deep in the mountains of Nagano, working with tiny paper (Kusama 35). She started ink painting those small dots and chains of forms and structures with no center composition. Thus, Kusama was liberating her spirit.
The later works of Kusama concentrated only on the idea with which she had started. At her exhibitions, the theme of the infinity and repetition was explored through hallucinatory paintings of dots and loops. Since the debut in New York at the Brata Gallery, she became recognized as a provocative artist who attracted crowds to her exhibitions. In the context of the art-world of those days, Kusama was a truly independent, avant-garde artist and produced a wow-effect with her abstractions. She became a predecessor of pop-art and inspired Warhol.
One of the most remarkable art-works of Kusama was the “Infinity Mirror Room – Phalli’s Field,” an installation first shown in 1965. The mirrored room was constructed as a room within a room, with a floor covered with hundreds of polka dot-printed fabric figures, all white and red (Applin 1). This installation was the first step of creating a “Kusama World,” a special environment aimed at making people question, at getting them puzzled. People who came into the room felt extreme psychological uncertainty. They had no explanation or script that would describe the meaning of the room, but they could feel it. Besides, according to Applin, with this Infinity room, Kusama reflected some of those numerous nervous breakdowns she used to have since childhood (4). As a result, visitors were also supposed to dissolve in that environment, and the provocation brought fame.
The nationwide hippy mood during the Vietnam War and American politics provoked another rebellious happening called “The Body Paint Festival” in 1967. It took place in front of the Cathedral, and many viewers were yelling to stop them happening, but still kept watching how American flags were burned, and young participators were kissing regardless of the scene (Kusama 103). The idea behind was connected with the current violent politics, and people were striving for love and living in peace rather than wanted to keep seeing the war.
To sum up, Yayoi Kusama remains to be one of the most significant artists in the modern art. People stand in long queues to see her exhibitions, from Los Angeles to Moscow, as Kusama still makes them wonder about the infinity and what is it made of. Her style is easy to define and what is probably most special – she is sticking to it throughout all her life.
Works Cited
Applin, Jo. Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Room – Phalli’s Field. MIT Press, 2012.
Kusama, Yayoi. Infinity Net: The Autobiography of Yayoi Kusama. Translated by Ralph McCarthy, Tate Enterprises Ltd, 2013.