Credit: CNA Lifestyle
Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama, who transformed hallucinations into art and was known for her obsessive dot-covered paintings and pumpkin motifs, has died at the age of 97.
The announcement made on her official website said she died on Aug 14 at a hospital in Tokyo but did not give a cause of death.
“She continued to paint until her final days, never setting aside her brush, and continued exploration of forever love and eternal soul,” the statement said. “We will carry forward Kusama’s wishes and, through art, continue to bring hope and strength for the future to people around the world.”
Kusama, one of Japan’s most respected contemporary artists, was widely exhibited around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
Frustrated with the confining nature of Japanese society, Kusama left for New York at 27, where she quickly made a name for herself with her paintings, inspired by hallucinations of flashing lights, dots and flowers she had seen since childhood.
Repetitive motifs were her trademark, in various shapes, resembling netting, swirls or worms, but most often dots, dancing proudly on her canvases, or as sparkling balls or dots of light in her installations, in all their vibrant psychedelic glory.
“Polka dots are fabulous,” Kusama said in a 2012 interview with The Associated Press, appearing in her signature orange bobcut wig and polka dot-covered attire.
“I want to create a thousand paintings, maybe two thousand paintings, as many as I can draw,” she said in her childlike but matter-of-fact tone. “I will keep painting until I die.”
She also wrote, took part in anti-war activities during the 1960s, and reportedly influenced artists such as Andy Warhol.
Kusama, who was candid about her mental health struggles, said New York gave her neuroses. Around 1977, a few years after returning to Japan, she voluntarily entered a mental hospital and lived there for decades, being driven to her nearby studio each morning.
In her later years, as the times caught up with her art, she enjoyed fame. She signed on with fashion brands like Louis Vuitton as well as other licensed products like teacups, T-shirts and key chains with her illustrations, including replicas of her likeness that were used in show windows and other marketing.
In 2008, Christie’s auctioned her work for US$5.8 million. In 2016, she won the most prestigious award Japan gives its artists, the Order of Culture.
Upon receiving the award, she told reporters she was more determined than ever to pursue her art, stressing that the sincerity and devotion she had demonstrated in her personal life were crucial parts of her artistic legacy.
“I feel there is little left in my life, but I am now still fighting to the death for my art,” she said. “I am giving all I have so that many people will continue to be interested in my art, even after I am dead.”
