Film Review: Kusama Infinity
I first saw Yayoi Kusama’s work on display years ago at the Modern Art Museum in Stockholm. I’d never seen anything like it before, there were huge balls hanging from the ceiling that changed colour, pumpkins covered in dots, giant canvases covered with intricately painted nets, a sculpture of a rowing boat covered in what looked like soft penis sculptures and mirrors everywhere.
There was something about the colour and the shapes that just captivated me entirely. The art lovers version of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.
Since then I have sought her work out as much as I can . Making a special trip to Singapore to see her first major exhibit in South East Asia, which was an incredible experience.
So you can imagine my excitement when I heard there was a feature length documentary coming out about Kusama’s life and career.
In ‘Kusama Infinity’ Heather Lenz (the co-writer and director) has done an excellent job of showing the woman behind the incredible art.
We were taken back to Matsumoto, Japan, where Kusama was born, to a family that only didn’t appreciate her desire to be an artist, they frankly discouraged it. We were shown what I can imagine was only part of the journey that Kusama struggled her way through to make a name of herself.
Travelling to America, only to be shunned and ignored because she is female and Japanese and to have her work blatantly copied by established (white, male) artists.
The film doesn’t shy away from the fact that Kusama wanted to be a famous artist and how she suffered because of that. She hosted regular ‘happenings’ in the 1960’s which often involved nudity and performing ‘marriages’ for gay couples (which is wonderful when you think that same sex marriage wasn’t legal in the USA until 2015). These sorts of events made her unpopular within the art world, she was often seen as attention seeking and was publicly shunned in Japan.
Kusama’s life was, and indeed still is fascinating. Now 89 years old, she is back in Japan. She lives inside a mental health institution that encourages art therapy and walks the two blocks to her studio everyday to paint.
It’s easy to think that Kusama was ahead of her time, but in reality it is artists like her that have maybe not paved the way, but have certainly cleared some of the weeds for other female artists to follow.
Even if you’ve never seen any of Kusama’s work, I’d suggest watching this film. It is a fascinating insight into the life of a formidable and groundbreaking artist, as well as a sneak peek into the art world of 1960’s New York.
Available to stream on Hulu or via various other providers.
