“I Want To Sing My Heart Out In Praise of Life” (2009) by Yayoi Kusama, offset lithograph

Yayoi Kusama was born in Japan in 1929 and initially studied painting in Kyoto before moving to New York City in the late 1950s. Since her first solo exhibition in her home country in 1952, her work has regularly garnered attention in both solo and group exhibitions. In the mid-1960s, she solidified her status as a major avant-garde artist in New York by organizing groundbreaking and influential happenings, events, and exhibitions. By the late 1980s, following a series of international solo exhibitions, she had achieved widespread recognition. She also represented Japan at the 45th Venice Biennale in 1993, receiving considerable critical acclaim. Kusama's work transcends the boundaries of two pivotal art movements of the second half of the 20th century: Pop Art and Minimalism. Her extraordinary and highly influential career encompasses paintings, performances, room-filling installations, outdoor sculptures, literary creations, films, fashion, design, and interventions in existing architectural contexts, addressing both microscopic and macroscopic universes.