Yayoi Kusama

 

Yayoi Kusama is a documentary by Magnolia Films.

 

Yayoi Kusama Infinity is a documentary by Heather Lenz and is a Magnolia film. It is about her life and ascension to fame as an artist. This artist had a prolific work ethic but was seemingly ignored by the art world. Kusama had successes early on, but her popularity did not emerge until much later in her life.

In the film, the scenes are well executed. Clips were shown with actual pictures of the family from the time period. The movie also showed artworks and interviews with the artist, her friends, and coworkers. The documentary was very telling of Yayoi Kusama’s life. It starts out with Kusama as a small child. She was the youngest child in her family. Her family owned a nursery and sold plants and seeds. Her father was a man of loose morals and Yayoi’s mother sent her to spy on him. This was very traumatic for a young child, and something happened in a poppy field when she followed her father one day. She blocked out exactly what happened, but Kusama was extremely traumatized. She described her experience as being sucked into the flowers until they consumed her body and she became part of the field. This scene was followed by drawings of poppy flowers, pictures of the family, and pictures of the field of poppies to give the viewer a clear understanding.  Kusama was being interviewed about the event in Japanese with captions in English. This also supported the narrative.

The dialog also touches on other aspects of the relationship Kusama had with her mother. When she was a small child, Yayoi’s mother would snatch drawings from her hand making the artist extremely anxious. This is described by one of Yayoi’s friends. This is why she is so dogmatic about finishing very large drawings in one sitting.  One of the interesting things I learned was that her mother wanted her to go to finishing school, but she wanted to go to art school. She desperately wanted to be a painter.  Kusama said she would attend both, but neglected to attend etiquette school. This action, and some of the other descriptions of Yayoi Kusama made her seem very bold and aggressive. 

 This Japanese artist had small successes in Japan. When she was introduced to the works of Georgie O’Keeffe, Kusama decided to write her and send her watercolor paintings. The film showed pictures of O’Keeffe’s work, and the letter that Kusama had written her was read. This gave the documentary strength and credibility. Shortly after communicating with O’Keeffe, Yayoi moved to the United States. The film states she burned close to 2000 of her works before she left Japan. I find this detail interesting. I think this gives insight into the mindset of Kusama.  This is one of the telling signs that Kusuma’s mental health might be in question.

Moving to America Kusama became aggressive in showing her work. The documentary portrayed her as being overbearing. She wanted to be exhibited and accepted by the art world.  I learned that the art scene was predominantly male, and the artworks being viewed by patrons were by men. Women curators showed very few artworks by women, if any. Kusama did a great many things to get noticed. The film showed these instances very fluidly. Kusama had success with this, but ended up going home to Japan after a suicide attempt, severe bouts with depression, and failed attempts to break into the men’s art world in its entirety. Later, Kusama’s work started to show up in galleries and be noticed by curators. When this started happening, Kusama was middle-aged. This was well documented in the film by interviews with curators, and the artist herself. She, at this time, was asked to come to the United States.

This time in the United States she was welcomed with open arms. She has now shown art all over the world. The documentary stated that she is one of the best-selling female artists of all time. The film also shows her as being one of the most sought-after artists, male or female. I found this video very interesting and I think it is important for artists to see how hard it is to be a working female artist. This documentary also brings hope to anyone that is a late-in-life artist, hoping to be recognized for their achievements.