“She created a type of form. With a white overlap like mycelium

that is consistent throughout and keeps proliferating, consciousness

is enclosed. That is art with a level of self-discipline, which

uses unobstructed matter to present a transcendent reality. With

an astounding method, this wonderful and beautiful image is vividly

imprinted into our sensory organs.”

- Herbert Read, Mugen no Ami: Yayoi Kusama Jiden

Polka dots are signals from the universe. A boundless net represents her life. The British daily The Times listed Yayoi Kusama among the Top 200 Artists of the 20th Century to Now. As one of the most influential avant-garde artists worldwide, Kusama is like her naked and burning artistic life, gorgeous and dazzling. Each day, she creates at an amazing speed. Utilizing means such as painting, sculpture, and performance art, and using surreal psychological studies, she presents the endless creativity in her head.

Yayoi Kusama utilizes the vibrant pumpkin to unleash a source of radiant energy. The imperfectly symmetrical pumpkin shape is more able to manifest the natural true self. Although the pumpkin appears in a static form, its abundant vitality has not been diminished. Kusama has been attracted to the round shape of pumpkins ever since she experienced hallucinations as a child talking to pumpkins at a farm. She copies their images to her motifs, eventually leading to her work, Pumpkin. With delicate brushstrokes, Kusama neatly paints dense black spots on the pumpkin, arranging the wavy dots into exquisite stripes, and giving the pumpkin a great level of appeal and energy. She believes that the wavy dots bear the shape of the sun, serving as a symbol of vitality and the world. Round, soft, colorful, oblivious, and unpredictable, the wavy dots have become a kind of movement that leads to a path of infinity. It is in this simple paranoia that she escapes her inner spiritual suffering, manifesting her raw illusions onto the canvas.

Observing the art of Kusama, viewers cannot help but feel an explosion of surprise and joy due to its visual sensory impact. However, that strong artistic language serves as the crystallization of the artist’s personal hardships. Those sufferings did not diminish her devotion to her art. What is commendable is that she bore that unbearable suffering, transforming her hallucinations into unique and strong ideas, erasing them one at a time with her brushstrokes to create a fascinating space and mood. Examining the painter’s fantastic spiritual world, they transform into her most dazzling and popular creations.