Yayoi Kusama

Discussing Yayoi Kusama

I. Title Page

The title page must include the name of your selected artist, the artist’s dates (if known), country of origin and your name. This paper will be minimum 1000 words (roughly 3-5 pages). 12 font, double space, times roman font.

II. Introduction

Why did you select this artist over your other choice? What interested you? Is the work beautiful to you? Why? Does your artist work in a vessel, a sculptural, or a functional pottery formate? What building techniques were used? What surface technique were used? What is the scale of the work?

III. Your paper should be considered an Objective Analysis – In other words, your paper should be mainly about your analysis of the work(s) of the artist. You might want to consider some of the information outlined below, but remember this is meant to be some ideas for you to think about and possibly include, but does not have to be followed literally. It will help to make a systematic analysis of the work of art you choose.

Many of the categories will overlap, and some are obviously more important for certain works than for others. Each work of art is a unique experience, and must be treated as such, but I hope the following outline will help you appreciate the artist you have selected more intensely.

A. Subject Matter/Iconography –

These are some of things you might want to include in your analysis, but again I have no expectation nor do I want you to simply answer the questions. These are just meant to help you and serve as some guidelines for your paper.

Your paper should be based on your sample images and research.

For each, consider the following:

What is represented?

Are there symbols in the work?

Is the work Realistic, Abstract, Non-objective?

What does it mean?

What was the cultural context of the work?

Does the work have, or make a social or political statement?

What is its emotional context?

Find out what works or artists, or events in time may have influenced the artist.

What are some of the cultural influences?

 

 

B. Formal Elements

 

Artists use the formal elements of line, color, value, texture, shape and pattern to describe form, space, plane and mass. Answering the questions below will help you to analyze how the artist used the formal elements of art to create the work of art you are considering, Just use the questions that apply to the work of art you have chosen.

How does the artist use the elements of design?

How does the artist handle space?

How does the artist organize the forms of the composition?

IV. Conclusion

Your conclusion will determine a third of your grade. Describe your aesthetic opinion in detail. What is your subjective reaction to the artist? How well do you like the artist and why?

V. Appendix

Include images: photographs, postcards, photocopies or drawings.

VI. Bibliography

Introduction

The works of Yayoi Kusama are characterized by dot motifs as well the infinity nets. These accumulations trace way back form her childhood hallucinations as a result of abuse. She was born in 1929 in Japan in a conservative family that was well-to-do. She had a long determination of becoming an artist through an inspiration by George O’Keeffe and this prompted her to move to New York in the U.S. in 1957 with the little money she had carrying a portfolio with her drawings. Her debut solo exhibition came in 1959 in the city of New York. Her work continues to be dominated by the accumulation as well as dissolution of petite, repeated images (Leffingwell).

I have been particularly drawn to her works due to the inspiration most people and especially women draw from her life and her expression of art. Kusama leads as the most paid woman artist and though in a mental hospital at the moment, she still is a busy woman at the age of 82. Her hallucinatory works demonstrated on paper give an overview of her trademark with through applying obsessive imagery (Anonymous).

Yayoi Kusama started her painting with polka dots along with nets that she used as motifs. She was by then ten years old yet she made fantastic creations through painting using watercolors, oils and pastels. During her first exhibition she not only displayed her large paintings, environmental and soft sculptures but she did that using electric lights and mirrors. As she advanced she later on staged anti-war demonstrations, fashion shows plus festivals for body painting (Leffingwell).

Kusama was a Jill of all trades who not only fathomed art but other works as well. She played an active role in the media through newspaper publication and film production. She participated in the film, “Kusama’s Self-Obliteration” which she produced as well as starred in. This earned her tremendous prizes in several Intercontinental film competitions. On her return to Japan in the year 1973, Yayoi Kusama embarked on issuing novels along with anthologies besides her art work (Leffingwell).

According to sources in the gallery Yayoi conveyed the logistics of installation using computer software. She darkened a room using velvet drapes and then installed a sculpture that is heart-shaped of an approximate width of 36 inches prepared by mirror with throbbing red Light Emitting Diodes lingering inside the darkness, it was ‘God’s Heart,’ 2005. Towards the right a ladder was placed, 12-foot long, with the title ‘Ladder to Heaven,’ that is limned in a cable that is fibre-optic and made bigger immeasurably by circular mirrors set up above as well as below the support of steel (Leffingwell).

The Infinity nets made using acrylic on canvases slightly above 76 inches were gotten hold of in compulsive loops of shades and tones that read like golden grounds that were darker. The ‘Black Nerve’ is another piece of work by Yayoi Kusama. It is a huge and immense tangle of stuffed tubes that are black linen interconnected by same-material strands that are sprayed with flickering glitter. Other pieces of work are repeated faces and landscape motifs that advocate the involvement of dreamtime paintings from Australia as well as ‘amate’ paintings from Central America (Leffingwell).

As time went by in 1994 she started creating open-air sculptures for several museums and companies. For instance she made pieces for Fukuoka Kenko Center, Bunka-mura in Naoshima on the Island of Benesse, Kirishima Open-Air Museum, Matsudai Station, Lille-Europe TGV Station found in France and many more (Corkill)

Kusama reveals that unlike many artists, her work does not originate from thought but from visions as well as dreams. She states that her hand moves the brush while thoughts come afterward. One of the film makers, Takako Matsumoto carried out an investigation for two and a half years during which Kusama had a plan of painting fifty novel paintings on canvas by the use of a black marker, for duration of three years. Matsumoto observed that the artist would work on her piece, undeterred and uninterrupted with no thinking signs or standing back to survey the work (Corkill).

Kusama draws her inspiration from nature, particularly the blossoms of the spring cherry. Yayoi is evidently touched when she watches the swaying of the flowers. This fact is seen in her writings about this experience. She says, “I want to eat cherry blossoms/I want to kiss their pink colors/Their scent that would have reached the universe dissipated in my youth.” Her latest work ‘I adore Myself’ paints a good picture of a great and recognizable artist. This work came after she won several awards including an award for painting, the award Praemium Imperial (Corkill).

It is noted that previous female artists like Joan Mitchell, said that loneliness contributed greatly to preserving the distinctiveness needed in their inventive projects. In the years 1990s Bourgeois declared to have worked in harmony for four decades while on the other hand Mitchell lived a tough life of drinking. Paula Rego from Portuguese along with all the women of the time tried to put together a language that was visual with the aim of translating the experiences of women into art (Wullschlager).

Most female artists suffer psychological instability compared to male artists.  This in most cases plays out in the course of art. Self-portraits for instance portray the battles they have with depression and other feelings. For instance, Maria Lassnig had a self portrait, ‘You or Me’ at the age of 86. This painting had herself with two guns, with one towards herself and the other towards the viewer. Alice Neel had hers painted at the age of 80, with sagging breasts,  with wrinkled skin and a prolapsed belly gazing in self pity (Wullschlager).

Yayoi Kusama is especially inspired a text piece by Bourgeois which states that with art sanity is guaranteed. Kusama confesses that if there was no art she probably would have committed suicide in the past. Bourgeois is an artist who specialized in autobiographies. Her works depict her childhood life in the tapestry workshop that belonged to her parents and the life of betrayal by her father who had an affair with the governess. Her works move the viewers through her psychic struggles to inventions of transforming them. For instance, the spider is a representation of her mother. The spider is a weaver as well as an emotional restorer. Nevertheless, it is also monstrous and controlling (Wullschlager).

Bourgeois had worked for a long time without being seen from the roof in her house at Manhattan as she reared her family. During those days of minimalism and abstraction her works were ignored. She had been previously showing little of her works until the year 1982 when a MoMa display caused international attention shining success on her in her 80’s (Wullschlager).

Conclusion

Though art was never considered a female way of life and is still male-dominated female artists have presently been basking in new spotlights. Most of the then polished female artists were overshadowed by the male artists pushing them to obscurity. The world was extremely sexist not until late seventies when little recognition was made for them (Wullschlager).

 

 

 

 

 

REFERENCES

Anonymous. Mastering the Polka Dot. Newspapers. New York, N.Y.: Dow Jones & Company Inc, 2011.

Corkill, Edan. Yayoi Kusama: Inside an artist’s head. 14 February 2008. McClatchy – Tribune Business News. 28 July 2011 <http://search.proquest.com/docview/462399853?accountid=45049>.

Leffingwell, Edward. “Art in America.” Yayoi Kusama at Robert Miller 95.1 (2007): 136-137.

Wullschlager, Jackie. In praise of older women: A generation of elderly female artists who have worked in obscurity for much of their lives is only now achieving recognition. . Newspapers. London (UK): The Financial Times Limited, 2010.

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