To refer to the lectures on identity and gender I would like to draw attention to the exibition of Yayoi Kusama currently showing in Tate Modern. With all the media attention currently surrounding the controversial works of Damien Hirst I believe that Kusama’s exhibition is receiving less that the attention in actually deserves. The show celebrates the life’s work of one of the most unique, inventive and original artist. Her life was split between rural Japan, New York and contemporary Tokyo and in a way represents the many changes in style, technique and media (ranging from sculpture, drawing, painting, installation and film) that the artist has undergone in her career. As described by Tate Modern her exhibition: “ranges from works on paper featuring intense semi-abstract imagery, to soft sculpture known as ‘Accumulations’, to her ‘Infinity Net’ paintings, made up of carefully repeated arcs of paint built up into large patterns” (Anon, 2012). She also creates room-size installations using lights and mirrors that submerge the viewer into the infinity of patterns and dots that are frequent in her work. What I found even more intriguing is that the artist from 1977 has been a voluntary patient in a mental institution. During this period the majority of the installation were created, and for me in a way explains the obsessive detailing and the desire for infinite spaces visible in her work. What is more, throughout her career Kusama has certainly been highly cautious of being alienated by the male-dominated art world being a Japanese person living in a Western country.
Bibliography:
- Anon (2012)"Yayoi Kusama." Home. Tate. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/yayoi-kusama.
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