A visionary mind, encased in a razor-sharp, cherry red hairdo, perhaps the first outward sign of Kusama’s creative energy. Along with self-designed attire, dotted with compelling patterns and colours Yayoi Kusama introduces her self in Heather Lenz’s documentary film, Kusama Infinity, which screened at the Sydney Film Festival this year and previously at the Sundance Film Festival.
Kusama otherwise known as ‘The Princess of Polka Dots’ is formally credited specifically for her incredible contributions to the contemporary and avant-garde art scenes in America in the 1960s. Kusama Infinity, explores Kusama’s escape from the conservative Matsumoto City (Rural Japan), her family, and traumatic childhood memories and finds herself in New York City in 1958. An admirer of American Abstract Impressionism (Williem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko etc…) Kusama looked to what she thought would be a diverse, inspiring and accepting city; contrarily she discovered a male-dominated art scene to which she battled with ferocious hard work and dedication to the progression of contemporary art.
Since childhood, Kusama has experienced auditory and visual hallucinations; she looks to artistic practice as a means of refuge and salvation from her turbulent state of mind. At the age of ten, Kusama began to sketch and paint, beguiling naïve works that illustrated a chaotic and restless state of mind. Kusama suffered from suffocating and angst-inducing hallucinations, a result of a traumatic childhood experience, and tensions with her disapproving and abusive mother. Kusama’s work and character are frequently misunderstood and undervalued, and her work, fame and current status mainly focuses on the prevalence of technology and social media. Lenz presents an insightful and irresistible portrait of Kusama’s life, her tumultuous psychological state and inner conflict as well as her various crusades with adversity, male chauvinism and misunderstanding within the unrelenting pressure and force of the contemporary art world.
Kusama Infinity, screened at the State Theatre in Sydney and the overwhelming beauty and darkness of the theatre allowed for the best film experience of Kusama’s multi-coloured, multi-layered and multimedia artistic practice. Kusama’s work is incredibly diverse and extraordinarily full of rich and overwhelming colours and patterns which illustrate the visions and hallucinations that occur within Kusama’s ever-changing psychological state. The film follows an expected, timeline based trajectory which focuses on her early life, her progressions and arguably most important work in New York in the 1960s, and in its final stage, a depiction of her international fame and the continuation of her prolific practice in her studio in a Japanese mental hospital. This expected structure keeps the film’s pace and reinforces a sense of balance and does not disvalue the film’s credibility as the work of Kusama is incredibly powerful and can be overwhelming.
Kusama Infinity is an inspiring, female-led documentary that presents the spectacular female artist, Yayoi Kusama who’s revolutionary and interdisciplinary work has influenced generations of contemporary artists. Kusama’s work has the power to endure the merciless nature of time and her work has become ever-present in the age of social media.
Her incredible life and hardships are depicted with an explicit honest truth, her work is bound to entice, beguile and mesmerise any set of eyes whom it reaches.
Amy (16)
Kusama Infinity