Spotlight Artist: Yayoi Kusama

 Yayoi Kusama the polka dot princess 

Get to Know Yayoi Kusama

 

• ·      She was born in Matsumoto, Japan 1929, into a wealthy family who owned a plant and seed farm.
• ·      1957, in her 20’s, Kusama relocated to the United State-Seattle then New York City, to become an artist
• ·      She was friends with American artist Georgia O’Keeffe.
• ·      Kusama has stated that “polka dots are a way to infinity.” She calls her fields of polka dots “infinity nets.”
• ·      Yayoi’s early years in the United States were financially difficult but creatively productive.
• ·      She helped pioneer Pop, performance, happenings, and installation art.
• ·      She returned to live in Japan in 1973.
• ·      Yayoi uses fashion and culture as an artistic statement. She has designed everything from handbags to lip gloss and Coke cans.
• ·      Today, Yayoi Kusama currently holds the record for the most expensive artwork sold at auction by a living female artist at $7.1 million in 2014 for White Net No. 28 (1960). Yayoi Kusama is considered the most successful living female artist.

On  November 28, 2019, Kusama’s “Love Flies Up to the Sky” balloon was  part in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,  Kusama’s design is the latest in the Parade’s Blue Sky Gallery series, which invites contemporary artists to create balloons in their distinctive styles — Kusama is the first woman to receive the commission.