Avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama passes away at 97

Yayoi Kusama, an avant-garde artist and recipient of the Order of Culture who was internationally acclaimed for her paintings that repeat and multiply motifs such as polka dots and her pumpkin carvings, died on the 14th at a hospital in Tokyo due to multiple organ failure. He was 97 years old.

Born in 1929 in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture. At the age of 10, he began drawing with polka dots and net patterns as motifs, creating fantastical works with watercolors, pastels, and oils.

In 1957, he moved to the United States, and in 1959, at a solo exhibition in New York, his work ``Infinite Net,'' which depicts a white mesh on a black background, received rave reviews. Afterwards, he released three-dimensional works called "soft sculptures." In the late 1960s, he staged radical events called ``happenings'' in which people showed off body paint in public places, which gained support from young people. Kusama's 1967 film, ``Kusama's Self-Annihilation,'' which chronicled her own creative activities, also became a hot topic, winning awards at film festivals in Europe and the United States.

In 1973, he moved his base of activities to Japan, where he also published novels and poetry. In 1983, he won the Yasei Jidai New Writer's Award for his novel ``Christopher's Brothel Cave''. In 1993, he participated in the Venice Biennale as Japan's representative artist, and since 1994, he has created a series of outdoor sculptures at places such as Benesse Art Site Naoshima.

He continues to energetically create works such as the painting ``My Eternal Soul'' series and public art ``Pumpkin,'' and in 2021, he began creating the painting ``Every Day I Pray About Love'' series.

He received the Order of the Rising Sun with Small Cordon in 2006, was selected as a Person of Cultural Merit in 2009, and was awarded the Order of Culture in 2016.