I had no idea that Yayoi Kusama had a whole series of reappropriated soft phallic women’s clothing and sculptures 10 years before I made my “Penis Pants.” I was late on the scene and ignorant of her amazing range of work.
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The special exhibit of Kusama’s work at Singapore’s lovely, newish, well-organized National Gallery was as wide-ranging as Kusama herself: an avant-garde performance artist active with the anti-Capitalist and anti-war scene and Happenings in New York, the feminist reappropriated phallic sculpture series, dots, dots and more dots (net, cephalopod, neuron, sperm pattern dots) with remarkable color and graphic qualities…
Dots on giant flowers…
Giant silver ball dots (sold as part of a performance art piece entitled “YOUR NARCISSIUM [sic] FOR SALE” at the 33rd Venice Biennale in 1966)…
Infinity mirror LED light dots…
More mirror dots to aid and abet narcissism…
Black dots on giant yellow globes at the main foyer of the National Gallery…
And a performance art video of her singing a operatic piece about suffering from depression. Even after deciding to live long-term at a psychiatric hospital, she has churned out an enormous volume of art. She says that making art has saved her life. Hear, hear!