Yayoi Kusama

Growing up in post-World War II Japan, Kusama felt compelled to be an artist despite her parents' wishes (her mother would take away her paints as a child). Overcoming the confines and sterility of the white cube space with her immersive environments that invite active viewer participation, Kusama has become one of the most notable and prolific contemporary artists.

Beginning in her early childhood, Kusama suffered from hallucinations, seeing polka dots, nets and flowers slowly enveloping and suffocating her. In order to process the trauma of these hallucinations, she began to externalise them through art and project them onto her favourite motifs including pumpkins, flowers and circular objects.

After a brief correspondence with Georgia O’Keeffe in 1955, Kusama left Japan and arrived in New York City in 1957 with a suitcase of drawings and the aspiration to succeed as an artist in the U.S. Wasting no time, she immediately began working on her paintings, mirror-room installations and performance art pieces that saw her stage weddings, orgies, nudist parties and anti-war gatherings.

To this day, Kusama channels her obsessive visions into her work, creating immersive environments featuring repetitive motifs in sculptures, paintings and installations that draw crowds in the millions every year that have put her at the forefront of the avant-garde for the better part of eight decades.