Kusama: Infinity

About

Kusama is one of the most important post-war female artists who is recognized for her artistic concepts of infinity, eternity and love, through her signature use of infinity-nets, polka-dots and pumpkins.

“I have been making prints ever since I was captivated by their allure, and am constantly overwhelmed by the brilliance arising from within the process of making them… I create prints with all my heart for people who love them. Whenever I work on prints, I am filled with a wish to convey to the people my thought in a deep, straight and pure way with clear brightness. This is why I can keep creating prints. I wish to make countless duplicates of the same visual field and spread them across the world.” -Yayoi Kusama

While widely acclaimed for her painting, drawing and sculptural oeuvres, Kusama’s print practice is often overlooked by scholars and excluded from major retrospectives and exhibitions. For decades Kusama has created an array of prints that are exemplary of her entire body of work. Through this medium, Kusama reworks her infinity-net and polka-dot motifs on her recurring subject matter of Pumpkins, Flowers and Fruit Baskets among others. Kusama created her first print in 1979 in Tokyo and over the past 40 years has published over 400 prints and multiples. Collaborating with several master printmakers, her techniques include screenprint, lithography, intaglio (etching), relief methods (embossing), collage and lamé (glitter). Kusama’s prints reveal her unique vision of the world. The repetitive process of printmaking and the idea of multiples appeal to her work’s ethos, while making it possible for more collectors to own her work.

Born in Japan in 1929, Kusama moved to New York in 1957 and quickly found herself at the center of the avant-garde art scene. After an explosive rise to fame in New York, Kusama returned to Tokyo in 1975 to voluntarily live in a psychiatric hospital, where she continues to live and work today. Kusama has exhibited extensively internationally, including significant solo-shows in 1989 at the Center for International Contemporary Arts, New York. In 1993, she represented Japan at the 45th Venice Biennale, to much critical acclaim. From 1998 to 1999, a major retrospective opened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and traveled to the MoMA, New York, the Walker Art Center and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo. Kusama’s current exhibition “Kusama: Cosmic Nature” at the New York Botanical Garden opened in Spring 2021. Her work resides in major museums and art institutions worldwide.