Now the top-selling female artist in the world, Yayoi Kusama overcame impossible odds to bring her artistic vision to the world stage. For decades, her work pushed boundaries that often alienated her from both her peers and those in power in the art world. She didn't care about money, it was about respect.
    Kusama was an underdog with everything stacked against her: the trauma of growing up in Japan during World War II; life in a dysfunctional family that discouraged her creative ambitions; sexism and racism in the art establishment (where white male artists appropriated her style and techniques); and mental illness in a culture where that was particularly shameful.
    At one point, in the 1970s, Kusama voluntarily checked herself into a hospital for the mentally ill, which she decided to make her home and she opened a studio nearby to continue her creative endeavors. Today, as she approaches her 90th birthday, she continues to pursue her art full time.
    Through it all, Kusama has endured and created a legacy of artwork that spans the disciplines of painting, sculpture, installation art, performance art, poetry and literary fiction. After working as an artist for over six decades, people around the globe are experiencing her installation Infinity Mirrored Rooms in record numbers, as Kusama continues to create new work every day.

   Unfolding over several decades, Yayoi Kusama's career has both exemplified and transcended two of the most important art movements of the 20th century: Pop art and Minimalism. Her highly influential work spans paintings, performances, room-sized presentations, outdoor sculptural installations, literary works, films, fashion, design and interventions, all of which expand and explore both microscopic and macroscopic universes. One of the most popular artists in the world, Kusama currently draws record numbers of visitors to her exhibitions internationally, while photos of her Infinity Mirrored Rooms have become omnipresent on social media.
    Kusama, who is now based in Tokyo, continues to tirelessly create art and participate in exhibitions. In just the past few years, she has presented major shows at prestigious international institutions including the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Tate Modern, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Center of Art, Tokyo and the Hirshhorn Museum. This past year, Kusama opened her own museum in Tokyo with the inaugural exhibition Creation Is a Solitary Pursuit, Love Is What Brings You Closer to Art.