health
Yayoi Kusama
The Japanese avant-garde artist, who was known for her giant polka dot artworks and mirrored infinity room installations, has died aged 97
TL;DR
- Yayoi Kusama was born in Matsumoto, Japan, in 1929 and began drawing to cope with hallucinations.
- She moved to New York in 1957 and became known for 'happenings' and her early installation work.
- Kusama returned to Japan and checked into a psychiatric hospital in 1977, continuing her art from a studio nearby.
- Her popularity surged in the 1990s with immersive mirror rooms that resonated with a new audience, particularly on Instagram.
- Kusama's iconic works include polka dots, nets, lines, pumpkins, and infinity mirror rooms, with major exhibitions and a dedicated museum in Tokyo.
- She had a lifelong obsession with pumpkins, finding them "wonderfully humorous, humble and appealing."
- Major retrospectives of her work were held in Hong Kong (2022) and installations appeared in significant locations globally.
- The artist died in a Tokyo hospital on August 14.