Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist who was born on March 22, 1929, in Matsumoto, Japan. She began painting as a child but had little formal training, studying art only briefly (1948–49) at the Kyōto City Specialist School of Arts. She has employed painting, sculpture, performance art, and installations in a variety of styles, including Pop art and Minimalism. The nonagenarian Japanese artist is famous for her immersive works originating from personal obsessions and hallucinations, channelled into otherworldly sculptures, paintings and public art.
Yayoi Kusama is known for her extensive use of polka dots and for her infinity installations. Her work is currently to be seen at Harrods, UK “At Harrods, we’re bringing Yayoi Kusama to life, placing a 15m sculpture of the artist outside our entrance, where she is seen to be painting her colourful dots across the magnificent façade of our Grade II-listed building,” says Alexander Wells-Greco, creative visual director at Harrods. “‘Crafting Infinity’ also includes playful installations inside the store, spheres of all-surrounding colour and instantly immersive mirrored walls to mesmerise our customers.”
Yayoi became noticed after staging several unauthorized performances in New York City during the 1960s which drew the attention of the press, notably Grand Orgy to Awaken the Dead (1969), wherein she painted dots on participants’ naked bodies at a museum. Her career had a revival in the mid-2010s with several exhibitions featuring her Infinity Mirror Rooms.
Why not learn a little more about the artist and her work via these videos:
Turning TRAUMA into SUCCESS - Yayoi Kusama Documentary
The story of Artist Yayoi Kusama by Lillian Gray
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