On the week that AnOther Loves blushed bright red for Valentine’s Day, the site was also filled with infinite iridescence, courtesy of Japanese artist Yasoi Kusama, whose Infinity Mirror Room, as chosen by artist and designer Gemma Land...
On the week that AnOther Loves blushed bright red for Valentine’s Day, the site was also filled with infinite iridescence, courtesy of Japanese artist Yasoi Kusama, whose Infinity Mirror Room, as chosen by artist and designer Gemma Land, was the week's Most Loved post.
Kusama’s 82 years have seen her move from rural Japan to the heart of the New York art scene in the 1950s and 60s, before returning to her homeland and spending the past 30 years as a voluntary inmate of a psychological hospital in Tokyo. As her retrospective opens at the Tate Modern, AnOther Magazine asked Kusama to reflect back over her extraordinary nine decades, six of which have been spent as a full time artist. The resulting poem, In the Midst of Adolescence, is a moving testament to her vitality and passion for her craft which still burns as brightly as ever, and is exclusively published in the 22nd edition of AnOther, which is out now.
Kusama is famously obsessed with spots, dots and circles, all of which liberally adorn her artwork and are physical manifestations of the terrifying hallucinations that have plagued her since she was a child. Whether covering the surface of an array of phallic protuberances, or creating surreal immersive spaces filled with bounding sparks of light, the dots are an integral element in fashioning Kusama's artistic world, which is at once full of beauty, yet resonant with the malevolence of the visons that inspired it. Here we talk to Land about her quest for infinity, and the patterns that fill her wardrobe.
Why did you love this artwork?
I'm also an artist who is obsessed with repetition and pattern. I love the feeling of trying to comprehend infinity.
Where did you find it?
I came across one of her installations at the Victoria Miro gallery and I'm eagerly anticipating seeing her solo slow at the Tate.
If you were drawing from your own subconscious, what form would your art take?
I use repetition in my photography and print designs to create floating houses and symmetrical patterns. Which I then print onto fabric to make scarves.
Spots are a perennial trend on the catwalk - what's your favourite pattern?
It would be stripes, I always have to have some stripes in my wardrobe!
Whose spots do you prefer and why - Yayoi Kusama or Damien Hirst?
Yayoi's – I prefer the way she works with space and the infinite.
If you owned this artwork, where would you put it and how would you use it?
It would become my bathroom, the floor has water so it would become my bath tub.
What was the last thing you bought?
Yayoi's autobiography.
Text by Tish Wrigley
