the wonder woman
image by actually
yayoi kusama is like no other.
she is a woman that instills a sense of wonder through her art.
she obscures a person's perception of light and space and depth to transport them to a new place of light and space and depth. she reminds me of james turrell in that way a little.
and that fascinates me.
though, turrell really focuses on your perception of one object or thing – kusama focuses your perception of everything.
for me her art is fractals: indefinitely detailed but also complex within the greater perspective.
she uses chandeliers to achieve this in her work chandeliers of grief:
Yayoi Kusama Chandelier of Grief, 2016 Installation, Yayoi Kusama 25 May – 30 July 2016 Victoria Miro
“My art originates from hallucinations only I can see. I translate the hallucinations and obsessional images that plague me into sculptures and paintings.”
image by architectural digest
image by sharjah art foundation
for yayoi kusama, everything is dots.
and those dots simplify the world.
“Since my childhood, I have always made works with polka dots. Earth, moon, sun and human beings all represent dots; a single particle among billions.”
i thought it was interesting that this perception reminded me of one of the main principles of the novel the swerve by stephen greenblatt. (first of all, you know that i am in full-on senior mode when i reference a summer reading book).
greenblatt says,
“Death is nothing to us. When you are dead – when the particles that have been linked together, to create and sustain you, [they] come apart...”
everything – people, matter, the things around us – is all made up of the same stuff. for kusama, life is dots, which in an abstract and artistic way, represent atoms.
image by itsnicethat
kusama is my wonder woman.
“The most important thing is that the world is facing many crises right now. We’re getting into the worst century in the history of my life. In this kind of era, I will be very happy if everyone can share a common view of human beings for peace in the future and love with the strongest hope. Everyone is an artist. I am going to fight for the world without nuclear bombs, war and terrorism. Let’s fight together. Let’s fight together.”
⌇
