Some say it’s worth Yayoi Kusama is equivalent to a very colorful and psychedelic theme park which does not create the slightest dent in the sensitivity of the viewer. Others do the opposite, under this appearance. ‘happy flower’ a web of dots that weaves endlessly tortured existence and a haunting glimpse into the epitome of our contemporary life that shimmers on social media but is hazy in violent reality. The 94-year-old Japanese artist, who has voluntarily lived in a psychiatric hospital for over 45 years, is known only to those who remember his busy passing, but was later erased by New York City in the 1960s. ten years he became one both a commercially global phenomenon -first of all and supported by social networks- in the public interest.
Kusama is a brand in itself today.. That’s why her iconic figure in a red wig was used as a giant fail doll at the Louis Vuitton building in Paris last March, while robots with her appearance were made in London, Tokyo and New York.
overall popularity
Wide exhibition areas know that Kusama will be an overwhelming success among visitors He doesn’t care much for art. 5 million people visited its exhibitions in recent years. The summoning power is impressive. At museums that house his works in New York, Washington, or London, you can queue for a limited time, in some cases a little over half a minute, to access his private world of endless perspectives.
it won’t be like this Guggenheim museum related to It will host the ‘Bilbao’ exhibition, which runs from Tuesday to October 8th.Yayoi Kusama, 1945 to the presenta retrospective following all of his work, not through a chronological journey but through his thematic obsessions, through paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations and archival materials that document his ‘formations’ and performances: accumulation, Radicalism of the 60s, biocosmic thought, death and colorful positivism and the vital value of his last years.
Curated by this exhibition, it is organized by the brand new M+ museum in Hong Kong, which fully opened its doors in November 2021. Dorium Chong and Mika Yoshitake Bilbao will be the only stopover to be included in the itinerary. Lucia Agirre “This is undoubtedly the definitive example, because it includes: 11 very new works made during the pandemic that the artist did not share with the publicChong explains. At the same time, Agirre reveals his deep intention: “Among other things, we want to delve deeper into his work. do justice because it is under-recognized and justifies its historical significance”.
Naive and Disturbing Moles
Kusama’s story, by the way van gogh pop Narratively, she has everything to leave a deep impression on anyone who meets her, and she actually risks making her life seem more glamorous than her work. The artist was born into a wealthy family in rural Japan dedicated to the cultivation of flowers, the arrangement of which is one of the country’s greatest traditions, ikebana. Armed with paper and pencils, lonely by nature, the little girl would one day go to the fields as if it were a department. ‘Alice in Wonderland’He felt how the flowers were clustered together and spoke to him.
they did too pumpkinsconverted into sculpture today, Half a million euros on the market. there was more hallucinations: he thought he saw the sun, moon and stars turning into points on the cliffs of the river that also passed by his house, seeing an obsessive escape from the universe. Actually, moles ‘Mesotama’ in Japanese, drops of water – is one of the most prominent figures in his work. Seemingly innocent but also disturbing. “Our Earth is just a mole among millions of stars in the universe. Mole is a road to infinity”.
He was 28 years old when he came to Istanbul in 1957. New York Art Scene, on a journey that also means leaving behind the oppressive Japanese society against women. As far as he can remember in his memoirs, he survived by rescuing the discarded fish heads that he had boiled to make soup. In the same book he also accuses Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg for embracing his ideas and thus achieving his invisibility all these years. Being racist and female Back then, it wasn’t a good business card, even in New York, the cradle of modernity.
paint the bodies
But he hasn’t given up on his effort to use the media and turn his creations into a show not far from Warhol. Like him, he wanted more than 15 minutes of fame. For this reason dressed as geisha walked through one of New York’s toughest neighborhoodspersonally sold 1,500 reflective balls at $2 each. Venice Biennale and has repeatedly painted at parties at the Big Apple. naked bodies of all who dare their characteristic mole. back then anti vietnamese demonstrations he also attended. But the advertising and commercial zeal that was the launching pad for the author of ‘Campbell’s Soup Cans’ took its toll on him and it has sunk into oblivion.
In the 70s he decided to return to his country. Plastic artist partner dies Joseph Cornell, perhaps the closest thing to a couple he’s ever had in his life, as he came to say, neither of them liked sex. His childhood hallucinations returned, too, and he was in Tokyo in 1977. Psychiatric Hospital where he would spend the rest of his life and who, despite being on an open regime, allowed himself to express himself artistically. In the few interviews given to him, he assures that he saved his life.
Today 94 years old still working Even though the pandemic forced him to focus on small-format work as he couldn’t get to his workshop two blocks from the medical center where he was working on larger pieces. It can be said that he has not stopped creating for seventy years. “Unlike other artists, he always talked about his mental health issues and drew strength from them,” says Chong.
In the creative retreat, Kusama live very simply and it even happens own clothes. The paradox is that the work created by their work, promoted by a team working in New York, Tokyo, and London, is incalculable. After signing one of her works, she is one of the most valued female artists today. 10 and a half million dollars. The artist also harbors a mystery inside. the insatiable joy of living, It is not without a sense of humor, as evidenced by ‘The Room with the Mirror of Eternity’, a gripping installation exhibited only at the Yayoi Kusama Museum in Tokyo, here in Bilbao, which transports the visitor into a hallucinatory world where they can feel dizzy. the universe and also the life force that the author advocates.