“I want to create things that are infinite, expand beyond the canvas.”
Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929, Matsumoto, Japan), whose genre-defying practice profoundly shaped art across continents and generations, stands as one of the most influential artists of the postwar period. In Matsumoto and Kyoto, Kusama studied nihonga—a form of traditional Japanese painting. From an early age, her prodigious talent garnered national attention, earning her numerous exhibitions throughout Japan.
In 1957, Kusama relocated to the United States, settling in New York City in 1958. Immersed in the burgeoning avant-garde scene, she cultivated friendships with artists such as Donald Judd and Joseph Cornell. Through the 1960s, she emerged as a singular voice in the cultural landscape, aligning herself with the era’s counter-cultural and anti-establishment movements. Creating works that merge the personal and psychological with radical social critique, Kusama staged provocative performances, installations, and happenings that confronted the violence of war, the constraints of patriarchy, and the pressures of capitalism.
For over seven decades, Kusama has maintained a rigorous and experimental studio practice. Her early Infinity Net paintings—vast, rhythmic canvases composed of minuscule, repetitive brushstrokes—marked the beginning of a body of work that has expanded to encompass sculpture, performance, fashion, literature, video, and immersive installations. The artist returned to Japan in 1973, where she shifted focus to writing and design, producing surreal fiction and founding an avant-garde clothing line that blurs the boundaries between art and life.
In 1993, Kusama represented Japan at the 45th Venice Biennale with a critically acclaimed installation of one of her Infinity Mirror Rooms, alongside her signature polka-dotted pumpkins and performative works. In 2008, the auction record for a living female artist was set with a painting from her Infinity Net series. She’s also collaborated with fashion houses including Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton, bringing her aesthetic to a global audience.
Kusama’s legacy is interwoven with the evolution of both Pop Art and Minimalism. Her influence resonates across movements and generations, from the subversive performances of Carolee Schneemann to the conceptual art of Andy Warhol and the performative explorations of Yoko Ono. Her oeuvre spans immersive environments and sculptural forms that evoke both the cellular and the cosmic, offering audiences encounters with the sublime and the infinite.
Today, Kusama continues to live and work in Tokyo. Her work invites viewers into kaleidoscopic worlds that expand perception and dissolve the boundaries between the self and the universe.