Dear Shaded Viewers in Paris,
A must see is the Yayoi Kusama exhibition that opened a few days ago at Centre Pompidou. The 150 works of the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama were produced between 1949 – 2011. A childhood memory was the basis for the legend of Kusama and associates the start of her work with an hallucination experienced at the family dining table: the red flowrs of the tablecloth spread across the ceiling, walls, floor and across Kusama herself. A soul without body, the artist made of her Self-Obliteration a challenge and even a quest for an atypical and radical body of work: to reinhabit er body using constantly reinvented formal procedures.
There is a series of furniture pieces made entirely out of fake dicks.
Kusama has had a considerable influence on the contemporary art scene from Andy Warhol to Mike Kelley. Kusama is a sculptor, performer, writer and singer. Her NYC experience in the 1960's was a fundamental step in her nomadic journey. She returned to Japan in 1973 and lives between her atelier and a mental hospital. When you visit the exhibition be sure to take the time to enjoy her video work. Truly revolutionary.
Later,
Diane
