Art of Psychiatry Society

We recently visited Yayoi Kusama retrospective at Tate Modern.

Kusama is perhaps Japan’s best-known living artist.  Now in her ninth decade her body or work stretches back to the 1940s and encompasses painting, sculpture, drawing and collage.  She is best known for immersive large-scale installations.

In the 1960’s and 1970’s she became a well-known figure in the New York avant-garde, returning to Japan in 1973.  Since 1977 she has lived voluntarily in a psychiatric institution and much of her work is marked by obsessiveness and a desire to escape psychological trauma.  Her installations are an attempt to share her experiences with endless dots and infinitely mirrored space.

Wikipedia entry

Yayoi Kusama autobiography

Tate Modern page

Artist official site

On the cover of the BJP

Observer review