Yayoi Kusama’s art is
highly influential, but her life is even more intriguing. The artist, now 83,
began her career six decades ago. She has suffered mental illness since
childhood and from late 1970s lives in
Seiwa Hospital
for the Mentally Ill in Tokyo, from which every morning she travels to her
studio to paint and sculpt.
The minimal paintings
attract viewer’s attention by heavy use of vibrant oil colours, simple patterns
and often-repeated elements: dots, blobs, eyes, etc. Although the colour used
is very saturated, the artist doesn’t overload the paintings, rather using
simple two or three colour contrasts. The works, which at first seem very
infantile, after closer examination prove to be filled with sexual motifs.
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| In the Midst of Adolescence, 2010 |
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| The Sun Is Loved by Everybody, 2009 |
|
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| Night-Waves, 2011 |
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| Standing on the Riverbank of [...], 2009 |
Yayoi Kusama’s art is
highly influential, but her life is even more intriguing. The artist, now 83,
began her career six decades ago. She has suffered mental illness since
childhood and from late 1970s lives in Seiwa Hospital
for the Mentally Ill in Tokyo, from which every morning she travels to her
studio to paint and sculpt.
