Yayoi Kusama’s is one of the most important names in the contemporary art scene. The famous Japanese artist, however, is among many who have been personally affected by the coronavirus. In particular, the exhibitions dedicated to Kusama scheduled this year at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. and the New York Botanical Garden have been postponed to a later date. Despite this, the artist felt in these days the urgency to send a message of solidarity and hope.
The uplifting poem by Yayoi Kusama
The artist wrote a poem that puts solidarity and resilience first. It is not the first time that Kusama shares a message with a strong inspirational connotation. A flyer accompanying Kusama’s solo exhibition at David Zwirner in New York last fall featured a few words on her practice, bearing the statement, “I will never cease dedicating my whole life to my love for the universe.” This time, however, Kusama wanted in particular to reassure her fans in the face of the concern raised by the pandemic.
The Japanese artist’s statement acknowledges that “we find ourselves on the dark side of the world,” but assures readers that “we shall fight this terrible monster,” referring to Covid-19. “Now is the time for people all over the world to stand up,” she writes, “My deep gratitude goes to all those who are already fighting.”
Yayoi Kusama’s message to the world:
Though it glistens just out of reach, I continue to pray for hope to shine through
Its glimmer lighting our way
This long awaited great cosmic glow
Now that we find ourselves on the dark side of the world
The gods will be there to strengthen the hope we have spread throughout the universe
For those left behind, each person’s story and that of their loved ones
It is time to seek a hymn of love for our souls
In the midst of this historic menace, a brief burst of light points to the future
Let us joyfully sing this song of a splendid future
Let’s go
Embraced in deep love and the efforts of people all over the world
Now is the time to overcome, to bring peace
We gathered for love and I hope to fulfill that desire
The time has come to fight and overcome our unhappiness
To COVID-19 that stands in our way
I say Disappear from this earth
We shall fight
We shall fight this terrible monster
Now is the time for people all over the world to stand up
My deep gratitude goes to all those who are already fighting.
Revolutionist of the world by the Art
From Yayoi Kusama
Yayoi Kusama: a brilliant artist
Yayoi Kusama is today considered among the most important contemporary Japanese artists. She has worked in a wide range of disciplines: visual arts, dance, fashion, design up to writing and musical composition.
Her production embraces the surrealist current, Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, Art Brut, Pop Art, Land Art, and even Psychedelism.
But it is by digging into her most remote experience that we find the interpretative key of her artistic career. From an early age, Yayoi suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorders and multiple hallucinations due to perpetrated domestic violence. Kusama began painting at age 7. At 10, hallucinations began and the painting was the means that allowed her, since childhood, to externalize her complex inner world. Born in 1929, at the end of the 1950s she moved to New York, attracted by the experimental potential of the art scene of the time.
Her works are exhibited as permanent exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Tate Modern in London and the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. Since the late 1970s, Yayoi has lived in the Seiwa psychiatric hospital in Japan, by personal choice, but continues to paint every day in the studio in Shinjuku.