The Amazing Yayoi Kusama!
Yayoi Kusama who expresses her internal emortion open
Yayoi Kusama is an artist who was born in Japan in 1929. She often refers to herself as an avant-garde artist. Many successful painters learn from a teacher, practice as a disciple, and study at a school. However, Yayoi Kusama has developed her own style from a young age without a specific teacher.
Although she studied Japanese drawing and painting at an art college in Japan, Kusama was disappointed by the conservative art of Japan. She decided to move to the United States by herself in the 1950s shortly after the war and became active in art after moving there.
Now her art pieces can be found easily by browsing the Internet and art books. Many of her works are intensely impressive. They include brightly colored polka dots, planar constitution of solid lines, sculptures of winding plants, space covered with countless lights, and so on.
As I viewed her art, I wondered about her motivation and feelings when she undertook the works. Each of Yayoi Kusama’s art pieces and performances includes her message “No war and a wish for peace.” She sublimated her fear of hallucinations caused by mental illness in her childhood, as well as her pain from conflict with her parents, into the form of art.
She has earned empathy and appreciation from audiences by the way she has faced her own fears and suffering, and then expressed that in pictures, sculpture, and sometime words (she has also published books).
I regard Kusama Yayoi as an artist who can convert pain into beauty. This is one of the reasons why I like her art, and I adore her way of life. Even though now, after the war, we live in a developed country with well-equipped public facilities and adequate food and supplies, we are still suffering from fear and sorrow. If we can express these troublesome emotions into art like she does, it may be possible to reduce frustration and conflicts in this world. Viewing the art of Yayoi Kusama makes me believe so. It is probably coming from her message “No war and a wish for peace.”
If you have the opportunity, please take a look at the art of Yayoi Kusama.
