Writing Assignment: Review of Yayoi Kusama Works (Essay Sample)

Student name
Professor name
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28 April 2016
Yayoi Kusama
My preferred artist for this study is Yayoi Kusama. I chose her because of the dynamic nature of her career and course of development. Her art has also been greatly impacted by events surrounding.At the same time, her art has been significantly celebrated across the world. At an outset, making constructs from her otherwise abstract themes such as the Inifinity Net and Kusamatrix among others. A combination of these factors, amid being an influential feminine artist makes her a personality of interest, especially when it comes to understanding how the environment shapes art. Personally, I think the theme choice and selection of the nature of work an artist does is highly dependent on a number of issues, among them the environment and historic activities surrounding the development of the work. At the same time, I strongly believe that the significance of each of these in defining the pieces of art developed by the artist is also dependent on ones intrinsic motivation among other factors. As such, am indifferent in the belief that ones choice of artistic specialty he or she does should be viewed from an all-inclusive point of view.
Though initially preserved on whether the environment has any role in defining artisticthemes, my research about Kusama and her art havechanged my perspective. At the same time, the research has helped me develop a correlational understanding between historic happenings and art in relation to how different arts cut their themes and messages from the environment. For instance, from being brought up by a womanizing father, Yayoi developed OCD at a tender age(Kuramitsu3). At the time, her mother was also physically and mentally abusive. In response to this, Yayoi alludes to have found solace in drawing. Today, most of her works resonate around issues relating to OCD as the core theme, where she abstractly represents the latter through the accumulation of dots.
A look at Yayoi’s several artistic works reveals potential sub-themes of her works to be closely related with the accumulation of dots. These artistic effects can be easily viewed as her style of creating minimalism in art through the perfect matching of numerous dots in one piece of art. For example, in her Silvery Sea presentation at the Elle’s exhibition the boat figure was artistically brought out in the accumulation of work gloves (Kuramitsu11). Although the work gloves were simplistic in nature, they brought out maximum effect on the boat. At the same time, Yayoi Kusama’s worksshow numerous instances of surrealism, a literacy elementary illustration of surprises and least expected juxtapositions. For example, it is always unclear on how Yayoi’s shapes and sheds will change from one piece of art to another(Yoshimoto 8). This conventionally presents multi-dimensional aspects of the state space. As a result of the artistic match of dotted shapes and sheds in a state space hasmade her become the “Polka Dot Queen” of Japan.At the same time, she recognizes the role art has played in shaping her life. In fact, she observes that were it not for art she would have killed herself. In response to the excellent work she does, the society admires her for inspiring difficult situations surrounding her childhood.
War is another historic happening that has significantly shaped Yayoi Kusama’s artistic works. This is primarily because of the 1930’s World War II that occurred during her childhood. At the time, all art exhibits, especially those not promoting war were banned. Though still young at the time, she became more determined to define a new path of action that best illustrated her interests as well as those of the immediate society. To the contrary, the strong willed Yayoi directed her energies to other forms of art, not war based(Yoshimoto 8). Following her determination, she went on to start a new art series that reflected her and the immediate society. This was later ensued by the struggle for the recognition of feminine artists, Yayoi included. Nonetheless, since her works always stood out from those by other feminine artists, she was able to successfully win recognition not only locally but also internationally. At the same time, the research has helped me develop a correlational understanding between historic happenings and art in relation to how different arts cut their themes and messages from the environment. For instance, from being brought up by a womanizing father, Yayoi developed OCD at a tender age (Kuramitsu6). At the time, her mother was also physically and mentally abusive. In response to this, Yayoi alludes to have found solace in drawing. Today, most of her works resonate around issues relating to OCD as the core theme, where she abstractly represents the latter through the accumulation of dots.
Having been born just before the advent of the World War II (in 1929 to be precise), Yayoi’s childhood should probably have been more eventful than it actually was (Kuramitsu7). This is because the events surrounding her early childhood relate to a pre-historic war period in Japan where she would have acquired the skilled and perfected it over time promoting war-based pieces of art. To the contrary, she chooses to travel to the U.S. where she gains artistic skills in a different field that more reflects her personal and family life, rather than the events surrounding her childhood. Therefore, it can clearly be stated that Yayoi’s art was minimally influenced by the 1930 World War II. On the other hand, critics would argue that her dislike of war-based art consolidated her decision on whether to do art related to the war or other things.As a result, one needs to clearly understand the context in which he or she views Yayoi’s ancient pieces of art, especially those done during and shortly after the 1930 war(Yoshimoto 8).
A review of the impact of the environment on Yayoi Kusama’s pieces of art articulately reveals how some historic events such as her abusive family setup influenced her work. In contrast with the latter, other works reveal how limiting the pre-existing environment shaped her opinions, theme and art choices(Artnet.com). In fact, she appears to make her choices based on the intrinsic inspiration than on the environment surrounding her, by either time or events. Therefore, it can be clearly noted that an individual artist’s themes and genre of work is highly shaped by both the environment and the intrinsic inspirations and goals. For example, her presentation after the World War II should have reflected much about the just ended war. In fact, all art exhibits, especially those not promoting war were banned. However, though she was still young at the time, she became more determined to define a new path of action that best illustrated her interests as well as those of the immediate society(Kuramitsu 9). To the contrary, the strong willed Yayoi directed her energies to other forms of art, not war based. Following her determination, she went on to start a new art series that reflected her and the immediate society. This was later ensued by the struggle for the recognition of feminine artists, Yayoi included. Nonetheless, since her works alw...