Infinity Net
La mia autobiografia
A silvery sea of reflecting spheres, vast expanses of white phalluses, a proliferation of polka dots that overflow the canvases to invade the entire room. In the middle, swallowed up by her own art, a minute Japanese woman with pitch black hair. Yayoi Kusama was born in Matsumoto into a traditionalist family in 1929. As soon as she was able, little Yayoi took refuge on the plantations of her maternal grandfather, where she abandoned herself amid clouds of hollyhocks to the outlandish visions that were then captured on canvas. Painting was the only relief for the existential angst that struck her at a very early age, and she decided to embrace it all the way, even if it meant putting an entire ocean between herself and those seeking to prevent her. At the age of 28 she arrived in New York, hell on earth, and art was once again her salvation. She overcame poverty and repeated nervous breakdowns, exorcising her phobias with the celebrated Infinity Nets and soft sculptures. It was a short step from “psychosomatic” art to wild, orgiastic performances. In the late 1960s she rode the hippy wave and the Kusama Happenings became the key events of the pacifist revolution. The priestess of polka dots asked a policeman whether he preferred war or free love. Her disciples addressed her as “sister” like a nun because, contrary to what her outraged compatriots believed, she directed the dances but did not participate. In actual fact, she found sex literally horrifying, far more so than death, which her friend Joseph Cornell described as no more than going into the next room. Related in the first person with disconcerting sincerity and a wealth of authentically comic anecdotes, these pages trace the trajectory of one of the most eccentric, ambivalent and charming personalities that Japanese art has ever known.
Textual index
Prologo
1. A New York. Il mio debutto come artista d’avanguardia (1957-1966)
Una folle partenza
New York, l’inferno in terra
All’attacco con una singola goccia
Il grande successo del mio debutto newyorkese
Soft sculptures di forma fallica
Creare e obliterare
Lungo un’autostrada infinita
2. Prima di lasciare il mio paese. La presa di coscienza della mia personalità artistica (1929-1957)
La voce delle violette
Avanti e indietro tra realtà e illusione
Faccia a faccia con una zucca
Invece di Parigi, Tokyo
Il carteggio con O’Keeffe
E lo spirito si separa dal corpo
Verso un mondo libero e vasto
3. Regina del pacifismo. Istigatrice di performance d’avanguardia (1967-1974)
Nell’occhio del ciclone hippie
Il sesso a New York
Il potenziale creativo di un corpo nudo
Body Painting Happenings in tutta Europa
La sacerdotessa dei pois
Dal Way-Out Dress ai musical
Body Paint Enterprises
Gli anni sessanta: la grande svolta
In Giappone dopo tredici anni
L’immutabile società maschilista giapponese
Sbattuta dentro in piena notte
4. I miei incontri, i miei amori. Georgia O’Keeffe, Joseph Cornell, Andy Warhol e altri ancora
Georgia O’Keeffe. La mia prima benefattrice, la più importante
L’influenza del nihonga su O’Keeffe
Joseph Cornell. Incontro con uno sconosciuto
Un’infinita persecuzione d’amore
Pura misantropia
La giovinezza con sua madre e il fratello invalido
L’ultima fatale telefonata
Un’arte che avvicini a Dio
Donald Judd. Incontro tra poveri
Il leader del Minimalismo
Andy Warhol, David Smith, Herbert Read
Andy, mio buon rivale
Smith, il generoso
Read, l’aristocratico inglese
Gottlieb, il gentile
5. Ritorno in Giappone. Yayoi Kusama: dal Giappone al mondo (1975-2002)
Le differenze tra il Giappone e New York
L’arcano paesaggio innevato della mia infanzia
Grandi artisti
Ritrovare la lingua giapponese
Per qualcuno che ci sarà tra cent’anni
Un modello di pensiero per la crescita culturale del mio paese
Kusama Renaissance
Produrre arte che duri in eterno
Infinity Net
