Women deserve way more dues in the art world. But how thrilling that not long after a Georgia O’Keeffe painting doubled the auction record for a sale by a woman (albeit still depressingly lower than men), a female octogenarian has been named the world’s most popular artist.
And how refreshing that Yayoi Kusama has snaffled this accolade, drawing millions of people to galleries all over the world, with such eccentric art. In the 50s, Kusama moved to New York and started hosting “happenings” at Andy Warhol’s Factory, as well as orgies where she covered crowds of nude bodies with polka-dots. Second-hand clothes, sofas, and rowing boats were decorated with stuffed phalluses.
Now 86, Kusama has lived voluntarily in a Tokyo mental health institution since 1977, from where she has continued to produce artworks: giant pumpkin sculptures, UV dining rooms covered with polka dots, and mirrored “infinity rooms” that glint with the celestial light of a thousand LEDs.
Those magical mirror rooms may be what gets the crowds into the galleries, but once they’re through the door they tend to stay, inspired by the staggering life of this woman. In the 50s, Kusama was more notorious than Warhol. Now, it seems, she’s also more popular.
