Acclaimed as the most important contemporary woman artist of our time, Yayoi Kusama is a pioneer of Pop Art and 1970s Psychedelism, and is best known for her extensive use of polka dots in paintings, sculptures and installations. Frustrated by family pressure and confined by strict social codes, she cherished the idea of joining the West and freely expressing her artistic ambitions. Endorsed by Georgia O'Keffe, Yayoi Kusama settled in the United States in 1957. The following year, Kusama started working on her first "Infinity Net" paintings she presented to the public in her first solo show at Brata Gallery in 1959. Through her paintings, happenings, and other video and sound works, Kusama's work draws the portrait of a committed and deeply tormented artist, prone to frequent hallucinations and to the concept of self-obliteration. Works by Kusama are held in museum collections worldwide, including the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate, London among numerous others.
Acclaimed as the most important contemporary woman artist of our time, Yayoi Kusama is a pioneer of Pop Art and 1970s Psychedelism, and is best known for her extensive use of polka dots in paintings, sculptures and installations. Frustrated by family pressure and confined by strict social codes, she cherished the idea of joining the West and freely expressing her artistic ambitions. Endorsed by Georgia O'Keffe, Yayoi Kusama settled in the United States in 1957. The following year, Kusama started working on her first "Infinity Net" paintings she presented to the public in her first solo show at Brata Gallery in 1959. Through her paintings, happenings, and other video and sound works, Kusama's work draws the portrait of a committed and deeply tormented artist, prone to frequent hallucinations and to the concept of self-obliteration. Works by Kusama are held in museum collections worldwide, including the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate, London among numerous others.