Artist of the Semester

Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese contemporary artist who was born in 1929. Her artwork varies in medium but is often sculpture installations and her pieces touch on feminism, minimalism and surrealism and are often inspired by her own experiences. They often call for audiences to feel transported into another world, this experience is truly unique to her artwork.

Moving from Japan to New York in 1958 Yayoi Kusama was part of the avant-garde scene through the 1960’s bringing attention by events in which naked participants were painted with brightly coloured polka dots. Her artwork has been in a variety of museums from the 1950s to 2020s and is truly timeless.

Yayoi Kusama has been open about how expressing herself through art is the way she copes with her mental health “I followed the thread of art and somehow discovered a path that would allow me to live.”

Yayoi Kusama installation at Louis Vuitton in Paris.

Often her artwork is inspired by her life for example, pumpkins make a regular appearance in her artwork as during World War Two her family relied heavily on pumpkins for their diet.

Overall, not only is her artwork as unique as she is but the display of repeating patterns and vibrant colours creates something bold and rather meaningful.

This article only touches on Yayoi Kusama and if you’re interested in her artwork, I would recommend looking at her website.