Yayoi Kusama

지난 60여년 넘게 자신만의 독특한 예술 언어로 새로운 영역을 개척한 야요이 쿠사마 (b. 1929)는 현대 미술사에 한 획을 긋는 여성 작가로 여겨진다. 1950년대 후반부터 1970년대 초, 뉴욕 아방가르드 운동 속에서 페미니즘, 제도비판미술, 해프닝 등 다양한 영역을 넘나들며 자신만의 창의적이고도 도발적인 실험으로 두각을 나타냈다. 1973년 일본으로 다시 돌아온 후 지금 이 순간까지도 그녀는 끊임없이 작품 활동에 몰두하며 “쿠사마 세계”를 입증하고 있다. 특히 쿠사마는 “물방울 무늬의 여왕”이라 불릴 정도로 물방울 무늬가 무한 반복되고 증식되는 시각적 장치를 창조해냈다. 이는 작가의 편집적 강박증, 공황장애 등 정신질환이 가져온 환각 증세에서 비롯된 것으로, 환각증은 작가에게 ‘피해야할 대상’이 아닌, 쿠사마 만의 독특한 예술 세계로 승화시키는 절대적 수단으로 여겨진다. 물방울 무늬 외에도 거울, 풍선, 호박 또한 작품의 주요 소재로, 회화, 조각, 영상, 설치작품 등을 통해 그녀의 대담한 표현력을 그대로 나타낸다. 강렬한 색상, 단순한 형상, 끝없는 반복성이 만들어낸 세계는 팝아트와 미니멀리즘을 동시에 부각시키는 중요성을 갖는다. 

Pioneering a distinctive style over the last 60 years, Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929) has been recognized as one of the most critically acclaimed artists of our time. From the late 1950s to the early 1970s, Kusama was at the epicenter of New York avant-garde, displaying her creative and provocative artistic elements across various studies including Feminism, Institutional Critique, and Performance. 

Since returning to Japan in 1973, Kusama has constantly and aggressively reproduced her works. Drawing inspiration from the hallucinations she suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder and schizophrenia, Kusama has developed a unique style using polka dots that proliferate throughout the surface. Often referred as “the princess of polka dots,” she incorporates mirrors, balloons, and pumpkins as visual elements in a diverse range of medium including paintings, sculptures, films, and interactive installation works to show her excitement for vibrant colors, minimal figures, and endless repetitions and enlargements. Significantly, Kusama’s decades of inventions present unparalleled approaches linking Pop art and Minimalism, two of the most important movements of the 20th century. 

Born 1929 in Matsumoto, Japan

Lives and works in Tokyo, Japan

Education 

1948-1949   Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts, Kyoto, Japan

Selected Solo Shows 

2019-2021 

Yayoi Kusama: LOVE IS CALLING, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, USA

2019

Yayoi Kusama: All About Love Speaks Forever, Fosun Foundation, Shanghai, China

Yayoi Kusama: All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, USA

Yayoi Kusama: EVERY DAY I PRAY FOR LOVE, David Zwirner, New York, USA

Yayoi Kusama: HERE, ANOTHER NIGHT COMES FROM TRILLIONS OF LIGHT YEARS AWAY: Eternal Infinity, Yayoi Kusama Museum, Tokyo, Japan

Yayoi Kusama: Fireflies on the Water, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio, USA

Yayoi Kusama, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, The Netherlands

2018

Yayoi Kusama: I Want You to Look at My Prospects for the Future: Plants and I, Yayoi Kusama Museum, Tokyo, Japan 

Yayoi Kusama: INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM: LET’S SURVIVE TOGETHER, Wndr Museum, Chicago, USA

Yayoi Kusama: LOVE IS CALLING, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida, USA

2017-2019

Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, USA; traveled to Seattle Art Museum, USA; The Broad, Los Angeles, USA; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, USA; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, USA

2017

Yayoi Kusama, 101 Spring Street, Judd Foundation, New York, USA

Yayoi Kusama: Creation is a Solitary Pursuit, Love is What Brings You Closer to Art, Yayoi Kusama Museum, Tokyo, Japan

Yayoi Kusama: Life Is the Heart of a Rainbow, National Gallery of Singapore; traveled to Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia; Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (Museum MACAN), Jakarta, Indonesia 

2016

Yayoi Kusama: At the End of the Universe, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA

Yayoi Kusama: Dots Obsessions, Sharjah Art Foundation, United Arab Emirates

Yayoi Kusama: My Eternal Soul Paintings, Victoria Miro, London, UK

Yayoi Kusama: The obliteration room, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand

2015

Yayoi Kusama: Give Me Love, David Zwirner, New York, USA

Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Theory, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia 

Selected Public Collections

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan

Akron Art Museum, Ohio, USA

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, USA

Art Institute of Chicago, USA

Benesse Art Site, Naoshima, Japan

The Broad, Los Angeles, USA

Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, USA

Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, Fracne

Chiba City Museum of Art, Chiba, Japan

Daegu Art Museum, Daegu, Korea

Fondazione Mudima, Milan, Italy

Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, UAE

Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, USA

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, USA

The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel

Kirishima Open-Air Museum, Kagoshima, Japan

Komagane Kogen Art Museum, Komagane, Japan

Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, USA

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark

Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden

The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA

Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan

The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, Japan

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, Austria

Nagano Prefectural Shinano Art Museum, Nagano, Japan

National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA

The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan

The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA

Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Germany

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands 

Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, New York, USA

Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan

Tate Gallery, London, UK

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA