Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now (Hardcover)
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Staff Reviews
Introduced to me as the Princess of Polka Dots, Yayoi Kusama remains one of my all time favorite contemporary artists. Summing up seven decades of an artist's career is no easy feat, but the M+ museum (home to several Kusama exhibitions) does a heck of a job.
— SydneyA major career survey of Yayoi Kusama, one of the most widely admired and popular artists of our time.
Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now is the most comprehensive survey of the artist’s work to date, profiling an artist who has achieved truly global acclaim in her lifetime. In a wide-ranging career spanning seven decades and multiple media, she established profound connections with audiences around the world. Emerging at the forefront of artistic experimentation in Asia in the mid-20th century, Kusama soon became a central figure in the New York art scene of the 1960s. Now in her nineties, Kusama continues to communicate her highly personal and spiritual world view through her art.
The volume is structured around six thematic sections, “Infinity,” “Accumulation,” “The Biocosmic,” “Radical Connectivity,” “Death,” and “Joy of Life,” each of which is intended to elucidate the aesthetic and philosophical concerns at the heart of the artist’s oeuvre.
This book features selections from Kusama’s hitherto unpublished writings, as well as correspondence with Georgia O’Keeffe, an interview with critic and curator Yoshie Yoshida, and a roundtable discussion from leading curators and Kusama experts. Also included are essays exploring different aspects of her practice, and a detailed illustrated chronology that places her life’s work in context. Appealing not only to those already familiar with Kusama and her work, but also to anyone discovering it for the first time, this monograph reveals an artist who, while shaped by international artistic currents, remains deeply connected to the traditions and culture of her native Japan.
Mika Yoshitake is an independent curator specializing in post-war Japanese Art.