Art Merchandise Special Flash Sale!

Yayoi Kusama, Yoshitomo Nara, Takashi Murakami, Hiroyuki Matsurra, Yoshimasa Tsuchiya, SketOne 7/10-7/20/2021

YiCOLLECTA has brought more exciting products limited to overseas art galleries. This special collection includes 23 art products at special prices, including artists like Yoshitomo Nara, Yayoi Kusama, Takashi Murakami, Hiroyuki Matsuura, Yoshimasa Tsuchiya, and SketOne. The 11-day Flash Sale allows everyone to purchase online without having to go abroad!

Yayoi Kusama- New York Botanical Garden Exhibition
(Kusama: Cosmic Nature)

What is the reason behind the popularity of a polka dot pumpkin? We’ve all seen Yayoi Kusama with her typical red short hair and polka-dotted top. She was selected as one of the 20 most influential modern artists in the world for nearly a decade, but did you know that she was once described by Japanese media as “the shame of Matsumoto”? What’s behind her story of voluntarily living in a Japanese psychotherapy institution, while still creating art?

Yayoi Kusama was born in 1929 and began painting at the age of five. Her mother, the youngest of her siblings, ran a farm and came from a wealthy family. Although her father was married to Kusama’s mother, he was a typical playboy who often pursued other women, which caused her mother to have mental problems. Kusama was often forced to keep a close watch over her father and although the family was wealthy, they weren’t happy. She often went to the back garden to paint, a space that was a haven to her. She began to have hallucinations at the age of nine, but her parents didn’t understand why and her moody mother would often taunt and scold her. She converted the hallucinations she saw into pictures, which indirectly became a form of art therapy.

Plants would often appear in Kusama’s works and according to her, she would hear them talking to her after a few hours. Additionally, pumpkins were also often seen in her works as she believes that the shape of them can bring a sense of stability. When she was a child, the pattern on tablecloths was also something that negatively impacted her. She would look at the patterns on the table and would try to look for the same patterns. At the end, she discovered that everything was actually enlarged, allowing her to understand how small she really was. One day, Kusama saw a book written by well-known American artist Georgia O’Keeffe in a bookstore and decided to write to her, only to receive a letter from O’Keeffe who supported her and encouraged her to be more confident. It was obvious that Kusama had a bad relationship with her family and her conservative mother always wanted her to get married. She eventually had a falling out with her mother and in 1957, she decided to go to the US alone to grow as a person; she was curious about the world and continued to explore.

Phase in America
When Kusama arrived in the US alone, she began to perform a lot, in addition to painting and was also involved in many anti-war movements. She created “Infinity Nets” where she painted for forty to fifty hours, causing an uproar. She also created “Soft Sculpture”, which covered male sex organs on a chair. Kusama excels at combining fantasy and fear in her creations, but has a fear of sex, due to her family. Kusama participated in a seven person group exhibition in 1962, with artists including Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg. She also said that she was very interested in things reflected in mirrors and in 1965, exhibited “Infinity Mirror Room– Phalli’s Field” in New York. Although she attracted the attention of the art world, she did not become famous right away. Many of the creative ideas were used by other artists and artists who used her ideas became the focus of the art world. She believes that it is because she is an Asian woman. Without permission, she participated in the 33rd Venice Biennale in 1966, and participated in the exhibition “Narcissus Garden”, without being invited. In the same year, she was also involved in a performance in which she wore a traditional Japanese kimono and utensils, and walked around the streets. During the performance, she felt helpless and bitter, believing that Asian artists were often treated unfairly in a society dominated by white people, and tried to commit suicide.

Return to Japan
After returning to Japan in 1973, Kusama found herself heavily criticized by the media. She decided to live in a psychotherapy institution and continued to create, beginning with collages, printmaking, literature, movies, etc. In addition to winning many awards, she also won Japan’s 10th-Novel Wild Age Newcomer Award. Furthermore, Kusama Fashion Company Ltd. was founded in 1968. She once said, “If it weren’t for art, I would have committed suicide”, showing the importance of art to her. Known as the Queen of Polka Dots, Kusama was selected by My Modern Met (the website) as one of the “Top Ten Avante-Garde Artists of the 21st century” and was awarded the “Cultural Medal” by the Emperor at the Royal Palace in 2016. She was also selected as one of the top 100 people in the world by TIME Magazine.

Not only has YiCOLLECTA brought many popular and limited Kusama merchandise all the way from New York, we also have t-shirts, portable mirrors decorated with small flowers, and Yoshitomo Nara’s latest Aomori-Ken Dog Piggy Bank (in brown). Some of the merchandise is limited.

The prices of the products above do not include shipping fee and the domestic fee is +130 NT.

*End of Flash Sale

Curator: YiCOLLECTA