Yayoi was born in Matsumoto City, Japan, 1929. She started to paint around the age of ten, largely using polka dots using pastels and oils. Her work encompasses large paintings, sculptures (some of which include using mirrors, electric lights) installations, fashion, fiction, demonstrations, film-making.

“By the late 1960s, the polka dots had developed into a strategy of what the artist described as ‘self-obliteration’. A prominent feature of her ‘happenings’ and performances of the period, and usually daubed onto the bodies of participants, they symbolically neutralised the ego, which Kusama blamed for the horror and destruction of the US–Vietnam War.” [x]

It is understandable that Louis Vuitton decided to collaborate with Kusama. This has been a work in progress, as Marc Jacobs and Yves Carcel have been Kusama fans for years. If you happen to find yourself near a LV store, check out the collaboration… art and fashion collide. It’s always fun to see what becomes of a joint effort. Also, as you can see in the picture below, some of the stores happen to tote a realistic figure of Kusama herself. They did a suburb job.

Who would you take to walk through this spotted, dotted room?

If any of you visit her current exhibition in New York, send us a picture!