TOKYO — Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama, who transformed hallucinations into art and was known for her obsessive dot-covered paintings and pumpkin motifs, has died at the age of 97.
\n\nThe announcement made on her official website said she died on Aug. 14 but did not give a cause of death.
\n\nFrustrated with the confining nature of Japanese society, Kusama left for New York at 27, where she quickly made a name for herself with her paintings, inspired by hallucinations of flashing lights, dots and flowers she had seen since childhood.
\n\nShe also wrote, took part in anti-war activities during the 1960s, and reportedly influenced artists such as Andy Warhol.
\n\nKusama, who was candid about her mental health struggles, said New York gave her neuroses. Around 1977, a few years after returning to Japan, she voluntarily entered a mental hospital and lived there for decades, being driven to her nearby studio each morning.
\n\n“I still see hallucinations even now,” Kusama said in 2017.
\n\n“Dots come flying everywhere — on my dress, the floor, things I’m carrying, throughout the house, the ceiling. And I paint them.”
Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/
