Infinity Net: The Autobiography of Yayoi Kusama

Whether or not you're familiar with this artist's name, you have seen her work somewhere. If not at an art gallery, then you've felt the effects of Yayoi Kusama in elementary school art class, from fashion, and possibly around Halloween. What am I talking about? Macaroni art, polka dots, pumpkins, and sometimes polka dots on pumpkins. Let's dive into Infinity Net: The Autobiography of Yayoi Kusama to see why you should know more about this artist.

QUICK SUMMARY

Born into a wealthy family in Japan, Yayoi Kusama seemed to have everything at her feet...at least from the outside looking in. In order to break away from her mentally and emotionally abusive childhood, Yayoi Kusama began developing obsessive visions, such as flowers and pumpkins speaking to her. She was also fueled by a desire to study and create avant-garde art. Yayoi left Japan in 1957, traveled to New York with hardly anything and became a poverty-stricken artist. Soon, however, she began a counter culture revolution with her art and "happenings" which brought her international acclaim. However, Kusama's psychosomatic visions continued, and she checked herself into a psychiatric hospital in Tokyo in the 1970's, and has been living there ever since. Kusama mania exploded in the 1990's internationally, and made Yayoi Kusama one of the most important contemporary artists of today.

INITIAL THOUGHTS

First let me share that this autobiography is adult in nature. Even though Yayoi Kusama is known for her polka dots, mirrored infinity rooms, and pumpkins she has dealt with many other mediums and ways of expressing herself, especially in the 1960's-70's that can be difficult to read and mentally digest. Because of this, I was shocked when I read a majority of this book. Yayoi Kusama is an artist that I knew of, but didn't know anything about. All I knew was that she really likes polka dots. There was one night when I wondered if I could or should even talk about this book. Then the morning came, and I pushed on to finish the book. I am so glad that I did.

UPON FURTHER REFLECTION

Let's get this out of the way. Even though Kusama's "happenings" were a huge part of her initial success, we are going to skip over them (mostly) because of the adult nature of them, and move onto a bigger scope of her work.

After letting this book settle in my mind for 48 hours, I realized that Yayoi Kusama should be applauded for her attempt to overcome her fears. Whenever something makes Kusama feel uneasy, or she is revolted by something, she figures out a way to make it silly. Because she struggles with psychosomatic symptoms and obsessive compulsions, Yayoi takes this energy and puts it into her art. For example, there is a passage in the book where Kusama discusses her aversion to macaroni and processed foods. It disgusts her to think about all the boxes of macaroni going into the stomachs of millions of people over and over again. Her real disgust in the idea of processed food being consumed by millions every year and what that might do to a person's body. How does Kusama handle this revulsion? She puts macaroni noodles on everything from shirts to sculptures, and she does over and over again until the uneasiness goes away.

"I make them and make them and then keep making them, until I bury myself in the process. I call this 'obliteration'." Kusama talking about her obliteration process with macaroni. pg. 53

RECOMMEND?

Yes and no. If you are interested in contemporary art, then absolutely. If you are very squeamish about adult content, then try another artist. It should be noted that when I read about the "happenings" it felt like it was written from a distant perspective even though Yayoi Kusama created them, and created the mania out of them internationally. It should also be noted that these "happenings" were created as a sense of obliterating her revulsion to adult activities because of a childhood trauma, and she never took part physically herself. Not only was Kusama trying to come to peace about her trauma, but she was also trying to emotionally deal with the Vietnam War. I believe that with the "happenings" Yayoi Kusama simplified the very complex issue of war, and was trying to solve it with something that she herself hated. It is a bizarre juxtaposition when you read these passages. The whole time I was reminding myself that she is not mentally well, but how incredible that she got so many people to follow her.

Beyond the "happenings" I really loved how open Kusama was about her life, artistic process, fears, and her mental illness. After digesting the book for a while I have come to realize that I think she is an incredible artist and again an incredible person for continuing to fight back against her obsessive visions and other psychosomatic symptoms. There is also a children's book, Yayoi Kusama Covered Everything in Polka Dots and Wasn't Sorry by Fausto Gilberti, which does an excellent job of taking the information in this autobiography and making it child appropriate. Check that book out here, or at your local bookstore.