A Visionary Artist Has Died…
This is Japanese Artist Yayoi Kusama, whose unique artistry captivated people around the world. Sad news yesterday that Kusama has died…
As The New York Times reported:
“Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese artist whose polka-dot-covered paintings, phallic sculptures and public performances caused a stir in New York City and Europe in the 1960s, and whose mirrored “Infinity Room” installations became selfie sensations and blockbuster museum and gallery attractions in recent decades, has died. She was 97.“
The Yayoi Kusama Museum and the Yayoi Kusama Foundation announced her death on Thursday, saying in a statement that she had died on Aug. 14 in a Tokyo hospital. The statement did not specify a cause.
Some of you may remember that I shared this photo a few years back:
Yes, that is me and a giant statue of the Artist “painting” dots on a building in Paris! Check this out:
The New York Times also reported:
“Ms. Kusama first gained attention in the late 1950s and early 1960s with her immense abstract paintings that she called “Infinity Nets.” These were composed of countless small, curving strokes of white paint on all-white or all-black surfaces, suggesting giant, swirling meshes pierced with pinprick holes.”
We knew her through this unique “dot art”, which we were able to wander through at this exhibit last year in New York:
We also bought two small pieces of this “black dots on yellow shapes” work.
As well as art, Kusama also wrote fiction, publishing more than a dozen novels, some of them, like “Manhattan Suicide Addict,” autobiographical. She wrote several volumes of poetry as well.
“Bring on Picasso, bring on Matisse,” she wrote in her autobiography. “Bring on anybody! I would stand up to them all with a single polka dot. That was the way I saw it. I was betting everything on this and raising my revolutionary banner against all of history.”
Here is more of her “dot art” that we experienced in New York:
The exhibit was unique, and here’s another example – Kusama’s “dots” were literally hung in a room for us to explore – here is that exhibit:
RIP Yoyoi Kusama…she had a controversial life, which you can read more about online, but the artistic expression was beautiful and unique…and of course, Paris is where you see amazing things like this all the time:
We not only saw this outdoor Kusama art, but inside, we saw this musical work of art:
This unique art exhibit has spent the summer in New York City…see more details here:
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RIP Yoyoi Kusama…
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Categories: Art, Exotic Travel, Memoirs, New York, Paris, Pop Culture, Talent/Celebrities
johnrieber 
I remember your post about her exhibition, and thought of that when I read that she had died. We have lost a lot of talented people this week! I loved her vibrant art. Shared on Twitter, John.
Best wishes, Pete.
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