The Polka Dot Queen: Yayoi Kusama Through 10 Artworks

1. An Artist Born in Flowers

Yayoi Kusama was born in 1929 in Matsumoto, a small town in Japan. She was the youngest of four children in a wealthy family that operated a plant nursery. From a young age, she aspired to be a painter and began creating art at the age of 10, often incorporating polka dots which would later become her signature. Although Kusama’s family wanted her to become a traditional housewife, she persuaded them to allow her to study at Kyoto City University of Arts for a year, focusing on a traditional Japanese painting style called nihonga. This experience helped her dreams take shape.

Kusama’s artistic motivation primarily stems from the hallucinatory experiences and visions she encountered during her childhood, which overflow from her inner world. Her early works, such as 1949’s Lingering Dream, often depict flowers that seem poised to engulf the viewer. This imagery reflects her traumatic experiences in the flower fields of her family’s business. Initially, she created her artwork using pigment on silk or oil on canvas, but after World War II, she shifted to using jute seed bags or cardboard for their precision.

In 1952, she held her first solo exhibition at the First Community Center in Matsumoto. Three years later, she sent her works to the United States and participated in the International Watercolor Exhibition. During the same year, she wrote a letter to the American artist Georgia O’Keeffe, the creator of one of Kusama’s favorite pieces, Black Iris. O’Keeffe replied, and her encouragement had a profound impact on Kusama’s life. In 1957, Kusama turned down several marriage proposals, burned 2,000 of her works, and made the bold decision to move to New York City.

2. Infinity Nets in the Big City

In the summer of 1958, Kusama arrived in New York with a promise to herself: she would change the world of art. In the bustling city, she developed close relationships with several notable artists, including Georgia O’Keeffe, Andy Warhol, Donald Judd, and Joseph Cornell, with whom she shared a platonic love affair.

Yayoi Kusama dedicated herself to establishing her identity as an artist in a field predominantly occupied by white male artists. Her first solo exhibition was held at the Brata Gallery and the Nova Gallery in 1959, where she presented her Infinity Nets paintings. These works received positive reviews and were inspired by the waves of the Pacific Ocean, which she admired during her travels from Japan to New York.

The paintings resemble tapestries with a wonderful tactile quality, featuring a repeating pattern. The earliest pieces in this series, such as Infinity Nets (2), were created in black and white, while later versions included vibrant colors like yellow, red, and blue. The largest painting in this series measures an impressive 10 meters in length.

3. Installation: Her Soft Sculptures

As a child, Yayoi Kusama worked in a military factory during World War II, where she made parachutes. The skills she acquired in textile manufacturing led her to create a series of soft sculptures in the early 1960s. These sculptures were known for their white, polka-dotted patterns and were attached to various objects. One of her early works is an armchair titled Accumulation, created in 1963.

In December 1963, Yayoi Kusama created an immersive installation titled Aggregation: One Thousand Boats Show at the Gertrude Stein Gallery in New York. This installation featured a central boat, complete with oars, covered in soft white sculptures of phalluses. Surrounding the boat were 999 screen prints of the same sculpture, creating a dizzying and repetitive effect. Two years later she created the Infinity Mirror Room-Phalli’s Field, which was filled with mirrors and soft sculptures of polka-dotted phalli.

These works were particularly innovative, inspiring many artists. Andy Warhol created the Cow Wallpaper, while Claes Oldenburg experimented with his first soft sculptures, including Calendar. Although Kusama set the standard for these styles, she received significantly less fame than Warhol and Oldenburg.

4. Narcissus Garden in Biennale 1966

In 1966, Yayoi Kusama participated in the 33rd Venice Biennale without an official invitation or an invitation from a country. Her installation, titled Narcissus Garden, featured 1500 mirror balls displayed on the grass outside the Italian pavilion. Wearing her kimono and later a red leotard, she sold her artwork for just a few dollars.

5. Anti-war and other Performances

Between 1967 and 1969, Yayoi was particularly active in performances. In 1967, she collaborated with director Jud Yalkut to create the film Self-Obliteration, which showcased her artistic works and perspective on the world. During this period, she staged numerous performances featuring nudity that highlighted themes of activism and anti-war sentiments, including Anatomic Explosion on Wall Street. Additionally, Yayoi conducted various happenings centered around the theme of unrestricted love. In fact, in one of these happenings, she performed the first homosexual wedding in 1968.

6. Back to Japan: Collage Period

Kusama gradually lost the respect she once held in America, facing harsh criticism for her works, especially her interpretations of nudity. Following Nixon’s victory, which ushered in a wave of artistic conservatism favoring white male artists, she returned to Japan in 1973. There, she struggled as an unknown middle-aged artist with a controversial past. Her psychological state worsened with the deaths of Joseph Cornell and her father, leading her to create works that focused on themes of death and war, primarily through collages.

7. The Return of the Colors

In 1977, she entered a psychiatric clinic in Tokyo, where she still resides and runs her workshop. This marked a revival of her artistic career, with her works becoming vibrant once again. By 1982, she was exhibiting at the Fuji Television Gallery in Tokyo. In 1989, she had her first solo exhibition in years at the Center for International Contemporary Arts in New York, titled Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective. Her significant comeback was highlighted by her solo exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 1993, where she represented Japan.

8. Her Eternal Love: Polka-Dots Pumpkins

Yayoi Kusama’s lifelong connection to pumpkins began in her childhood. She admires their “humorous form, warm feeling, and human-like quality,” finding safety in them. In 1993, the Infinity Room presented at the Venice Biennale featured yellow polka dot pumpkins, and she even offered extra ones as takeaways for visitors.

9. Infinity Rooms, Infinity World

Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms break down the boundaries of space and perspective. Her first, created in 1966, was an octagonal room of mirrors and lights with openings for viewers’ heads, evoking the universe. Subsequent installations also feature mirrors, colorful lights, and various objects, heightening the feeling of infinity.

10. The Hall of Fame

After participating in the 45th Venice Biennale, Kusama regained her fame from the 1960s, achieving even greater success. Her solo exhibitions increased significantly, including the notable Love Forever: Yayoi Kusama, 1958-1968 exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1998. She later established a permanent exhibition at the Matsumoto City Museum of Art and showcased her works in major institutions worldwide. In 2012, she collaborated with Louis Vuitton to create a clothing and accessories line. The Yayoi Kusama Museum opened in Tokyo in 2017, housing many of her works and marking the culmination of her artistic career.

Yayoi Kusama is recognized as one of the most successful living artists. Each year, she draws a large number of visitors to her exhibitions, solidifying her status. Today at the age of 95, Yayoi continues to create, aiming to share love, hope, and peace with the world.