Old Flame

Yayoi Kusama was born in 1929 in Matsumoto, Japan to a middle-class family. She was the youngest of four siblings. Kusama had an unhappy childhood due to the straining relationship between her parents. Despite resistance from her family and society, she overcame these adversities and became one of the preeminent figures in the art world, and the title “Polka Dot Queen” has become a household name. This summer, Kusama opened her personal museum in the Shinjuku district in Tokyo, and her solo exhibition has just arrived at The Broad museum in Los Angeles - these achievements are testament to her superior position as an internationally renowned artist. At the age of 88, Kusama shows no signs of slowing down. As she indefatigably builds her artistic kingdom, her struggles and triumphs become part of her fascinating legacy.


Kusama studied Japanese painting Nihonga at an early age. However, the conservative artistic style was fundamentally incompatible with her. At the time, she was already obsessed with Cubism and Surrealism. Inspired by American paintings Georgia O’Keeffe under serendipitous circumstances, Kusama travelled to the United States to pursue her artistic freedom and create her own opportunities. Japan in the 1950s was a conservative and maledominant society. As a woman who ventured to the West by herself, Kusama was considered extremely progressive and bold. Women artists who left Japan during the same period include Yoko Ono and On Kawara. They all have achieved great success in their respective disciplines in the Post-War United States art scene.


Exhibiting in Seattle in 1957 was merely a springboard for Kusama’s career in the United States. Her real ambition was to reach the heart of contemporary art in New York. In 1958, she arrived in New York where she led an impoverished but creatively fulfilling life. The following year, she debuted the large-scale white paintings from her Infinity Net series in her solo exhibition. Her idiosyncratic brushwork emphasises repetition. This execution demonstrates the tremendous craftsmanship and mental fortitude of the artist. Although the piece has the appearance of Minimalistic works which was very popular at the time, Kusama’s works exude an unique allure that is remarkably human. Kusama expounded on Infinity Net, “It has no composition, no beginning, no end or centre”. Like an organic world that functions as both a microcosm and macrocosm, it attempts to envelope every viewer in itself, so that it can share the vivid experiences of Kusama’s world of hallucinations.


Kusama met the early proponent of Minimalism Donald Judd in 1961 when she moved into a new studio. She also started a platonic relationship with Surrealist Joseph Cornel at about this time. It was during this period when she started exploring the possibilities of soft sculptures. By using fabric and filler material, she made multiple phallic sculptures and combined them with household ready-made objects. Through this expression, she attempted to eliminate her personal aversion to sex. Entitled Accumulations, Kusama’s sculpture was shown together with works by Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, and George Segal in 1962. This landmark exhibition heralded the rapid development of Pop Art in America. The following year, Kusama further demonstrated her diverse creative strategies with the work One Thousand Boats Show - it was comprised of a phalluses-covered small boat positioned inside a room that was plastered with 999 posters. This work combines sculpture, installation, photography, and elements of multiples - in terms of format, it is a predecessor to Andy Warhol’s Cow Wallpaper.

From 1958 to 1968, Kusama’s creative endeavours spanned over painting, sculpture, installation, collage, moving images, performance art, publishing, fashion, and many other disciplines. It would be a futile effort to attempt to pigeon-hole her in any simplistic classification. In 1962, Kusama participated in the Zero exhibition alongside other significant European artists such as Lucio Fontana and Otto Piene at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Most notably, she was the only female artist in the show.

Following the economic boom in Japan in the 1970s, Kusama returned to her homeland in 1973. She was surprised to find out that she could not fit in in the Japanese art scene at all. Compounded by her deteriorating health and persistent hallucinations, she committed herself in a mental hospital in 1977. Taking a hiatus from painting, Kusama took up writing. This shift to literature received much attention. Kusama jumpstarted her visual art career again in the 1980s and devoted all her energy in creating large-scale paintings. In response to the prevailing visual elements in Japan and styles that were commercially successful at the time, her paintings emphasised flatness. It was at this juncture she switched from using oil paint to acrylic paint. Her palette became more vibrant, and she expanded her format to painting on multiple panels. Other than painting, she developed a new-found interest in sculpting and started using boxes as the framework for her sculptures. In 1989, Centre for International Contemporary Arts curated the first retrospect for Kusama and re-introduced her works to American audiences.

Kusama formally represented Japan in the 1993 Venice Biennial. Major pieces that were shown included Mirror Room (Pumpkin) and Self- Obliteration, along with other twenty some works. This exhibition solidified her superior position in the Japanese art world. To this day, Kusama still regularly receives invitations to exhibit at international museums. Her diverse practice captives audience from around the globe. Constantly reinventing herself, the Polka Dot Queen ardently pursues the concepts of multiplication, accumulation, repetition, and obliteration in her legendary artistic career.