Yayoi Kusama

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Yayoi Kusama (2016)
Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees , Singapore Biennale , Orchard Road, Singapore
Property in Inhotim , Brazil
Installation Infinity Room

Yayoi Kusama ( Japanese 草 間 彌 生 , modern : 草 間 弥 生 , Kusama Yayoi ; born March 22, 1929 in Matsumoto , Nagano Prefecture , Japan ) is one of the most important Japanese artists of the post-war period. Between 1958 and 1972 she lived mainly in New York . Her most famous works of art, actions and happenings were created during this time. Her trademark are polka dots , colored dots that she paints on canvases, sculptures and people. On September 27, 2017, the artist opened her own museum in Tokyo .

Childhood in Japan

Her childhood and youth at home were marked by severity and authority. Japan was a fascist military state at the time . Kusama had to work in a parachute factory from 1941, when he was only 12 years old, during World War II . Her mother wanted her daughter to grow up traditionally. Constant pressure, rejection, and alienation from her mother may have led to Kusama's childhood illness that manifested itself in hallucinations . Kusama saw dot and net patterns and was afraid of dissolving in them.

“I looked at the red pattern on the tablecloth when I looked up, the same red pattern covered the ceiling, the windows and the walls, and eventually the whole room, my body and the universe. I began to dissolve myself and found myself in the infinity of never-ending time and in the absoluteness of surface. I reduced myself to absolutely nothing. "

- Yayoi Kusama

The hallucinations became part of their art. As early as 1939 she made drawings in which she processed the samples. Kusama also suffered from severe fear of phallic objects, sexuality, and food.

First successes

In 1948, Kusama went to the Kyoto School of Arts and Crafts . Her mother let her do it on the condition that she learned Japanese etiquette from relatives in Kyoto . At that time it was difficult for a woman to gain a foothold in the art world in Japan; and if only in the traditional arts.

Nevertheless, Kusama had nine exhibitions (six solo exhibitions) over the next few years, the first solo exhibition in 1952 in the Matsumoto Civic Hall , the community hall of her hometown. Many pictures from this creative period were destroyed by the artist before she went to New York. At the same time, she started psychiatric treatment. She was never ashamed of her illness and was open about it.

It became known nationwide, but was largely rejected by the Japanese art world. When her work was due to be exhibited at the 18th Biennial at the Brooklyn Museum in 1955 , she decided to move to New York. Her parents gave her money for the flight on the condition that she never return. After a stay in Seattle , she lived in New York from 1957.

Beginning in New York

Since Kusama had no financial support, she had to rely on selling her paintings. She first became known in the New York art scene for going from gallery to gallery to get exhibition space. There was no financial success. Large-format (up to 2 × 4 meters) versions of their Infinity Nets with a uniform mesh pattern across the entire canvas cost only $ 350 at the time. Kusama was uncomfortable in New York and her illness worsened. In 1961 she was undergoing psychiatric treatment again.

Phallic sculptures

In 1961 Kusama made use of fabric sculptures as an artistic medium. She began to completely cover furniture and other household items with phallus-like beads of fabric. One of the best-known works is Couch Accumulation # 1 , which was exhibited at the Green Gallery in 1962 along with works by Andy Warhol . The examination of phallic forms is interpreted by some viewers as coming to terms with sexual fears. Kusama was in psychotherapy treatment at the time .

The sculpture Traveling Life from 1964 consists of a ladder overgrown with phallic shapes, symbolizing Kusama's arduous career in the male-dominated art scene. This interpretation seems obvious, since there are women's shoes on the steps of the ladder.

Photography and self-expression

From the mid-1960s onwards, Kusama used photographs to publicize her work. These photos were carefully planned by Kusama, often taken by well-known photographers. Kusama often posed theatrically, similar to a model. In some shots she was painted naked with dots. This can be seen as a step towards happenings, events and performances in which she wanted to dissolve the boundaries between art, people and the environment. Otherwise, Kusama was dressed in sophisticated traditional kimonos in a media-effective manner.

Happening and performance

In 1966, Kusama gained international fame with the Narcissus Garden happening . After Kusama's work is not for the Biennale in Venice were selected, she decided her installation Narcissus Garden , 1500 reflecting balls to build in front of the exhibition hall. Passers-by could buy a ball for 1200 lire (around 210 euros today). A sign that read "Your Narcisium For Sale" referred to the narcissism inherent in art acquisition and possession. By the time the organizers of the Biennale Kusama's action ended with the police, she had already become the best-known artist of this Biennale.

Happenings in New York followed, such as the 14th Street Happening : Kusama was lying on the sidewalk amid white, red-spotted phallic pillows. In Walking Piece , she walked around New York in a pink kimono and an umbrella decorated with plastic flowers.

Shortly afterwards, Kusama started with body painting events, in which she painted naked people with dots, sometimes in public. As in their hallucinations, the points are intended to remove boundaries. Boundaries between their art, people and their environment and boundaries between people. The Self Obliteration Event , which took place at the Brooklyn Bridge in 1967 , is one of their most famous. Many of these events were broken up by the police. In the photo sessions, happenings and events, elements can be seen that in retrospect can be seen as forerunners of the art direction performance.

In the late 1960s, Kusama adopted ideas from the hippie movement : anarchism , pacifism , nudism and free love. In the early 1970s she founded several companies such as Kusama Fashions or the adult magazine Kusamas Orgy . Success failed and she returned to Japan in 1973.

Back in Japan

Back in Japan in 1977, Kusama voluntarily went to a mental hospital , where she still lives and works today. In the late 1980s, Kusama had several solo exhibitions in Japan, which also brought her back to Europe. In 1993 her work was shown at the 44th Venice Biennale.

Kusama continues to work on her complete oeuvre with variations of the Polka Dots and Infinity Nets . Several room installations such as Dots Obsession from 1999 and 2007, as a projection of points of light in a room in 2001 in Odense , pursued the topic further.

In 2006 she was awarded the Praemium Imperiale ("Nobel Prize for the Arts") in the painting category, and in 2009 she was named Bunka Kōrōsha , a person with special cultural merits . In 2012 she was elected an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters . In 2016 she was awarded the Order of Culture .

Exhibitions

Yayoi Kusama Museum in Tokyo

At the end of September 2017, the artist opened her own museum in Tokyo . It is dedicated to her work and is run by a foundation that Yayoi Kusama set up to provide for the exhibition of her paintings and installations after her death. Exhibitions that change every six months are planned. The five-story building is located in the Shinjuku district . Nearby are the artist's studio and the psychiatric clinic , in which she has lived voluntarily since 1977.

reception

Art consultant Yasuaki Ishizaka, former head of Sotheby’s in Japan, said: "She is one of the first Japanese women - perhaps the only Japanese woman - to have a large international fan base of all ages in Asia, Europe and the USA."

literature

Web links

Mural in Oriente Metro Station of Lisbon Metro (Portugal)
Commons : Kusama Yayoi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 草 間 弥 生 . In: デ ジ タ ル 版 日本人 名 大 辞典 + Plus at kotobank.jp. Retrieved December 16, 2011 (Japanese).
  2. ↑ See: Alexandra Matzner, Yayoi Kusama im Louisium, Denmark, 2015–2016 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Motoko Rich: Yayoi Kusama, Queen of Polka Dots, Opens Museum in Tokyo. In: nytimes.com. September 26, 2017, accessed October 14, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Honorary Members: Yayoi Kusama. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed March 14, 2019 .
  5. ^ Page on the exhibition , accessed on May 23, 2014.
  6. ^ Roberta Smith: Into the Land of Polka Dots and Mirrors, With Yayoi Kusama. In: nytimes.com. February 23, 2017, accessed October 14, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Kusama, Yayoi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 草 間 彌 生 (Japanese, Kyūjitai); 草 間 弥 生 (Japanese, Shinjitai)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese artist
DATE OF BIRTH March 22, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Matsumoto , Japan