0:00:02 > 0:00:06# Love in a field of polka dots. #
0:00:06 > 0:00:10Yayoi Kusama is one of the most successful abstract artists
0:00:10 > 0:00:11in the world today.
0:00:21 > 0:00:26Born in pre-war Japan, and a star of the 1960s New York art scene,
0:00:26 > 0:00:29Kusama is famous for the psychedelic polka dots
0:00:29 > 0:00:33that swarm across her distinctive canvases, sculptures
0:00:33 > 0:00:34and art installations.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49At 85 years old, her work still crackles with energy.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56# Walls and curtains
0:00:56 > 0:00:58# Everything you're frightened of
0:00:58 > 0:01:00# Is covered in polka dots
0:01:00 > 0:01:04# Swollen pumpkins
0:01:04 > 0:01:06# Sweet potato phalluses
0:01:06 > 0:01:08# Nothing to be frightened of...
0:01:08 > 0:01:10# Now. #
0:01:10 > 0:01:13For me, Kusama's work is always of its age
0:01:13 > 0:01:15and it's always a young artist's work of its age
0:01:15 > 0:01:18and I think that's extraordinary.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20Despite her increasing physical frailty
0:01:20 > 0:01:22and wide-eyed, naive manners,
0:01:22 > 0:01:26this is a woman consumed with a burning sense of purpose
0:01:26 > 0:01:27and ambition.
0:01:35 > 0:01:40Ahead of you at 850,000, 900,000, 950,000
0:01:42 > 0:01:45Kusama's delirious, abstract creations fetch
0:01:45 > 0:01:49record-breaking sums at auction and are snapped up by collectors.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51I bought this one.
0:01:52 > 0:01:53Isn't it wonderful?
0:01:54 > 0:01:58Her world is colourful, playful and seemingly joyful,
0:01:58 > 0:02:00but appearances can be deceptive.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05Kusama's work is rooted in a much darker, more traumatic place.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15Car manufacturers, movie stars
0:02:15 > 0:02:18and designers clamour to collaborate with Kusama.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25Yet she is preoccupied by more cosmic possibilities.
0:02:25 > 0:02:30A universe of swirling particles, a heaven of polka dots.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33# There is a world of polka dots
0:02:34 > 0:02:36# Where everything disappears. #
0:03:17 > 0:03:23Well into her 9th decade, Kusama is still driven by her need to create.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26Her passion for painting overrides the physical challenges
0:03:26 > 0:03:29that come with advancing years.
0:03:29 > 0:03:34In 2009, she embarked on an epic project of 100 large canvases
0:03:34 > 0:03:37that would eventually culminate in a sell-out exhibition
0:03:37 > 0:03:38at Tate Modern.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45Kusama works directly onto bright single-colour backgrounds
0:03:45 > 0:03:47prepared by her team.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50She uses quick-drying acrylic paint applied freehand
0:03:50 > 0:03:53onto the canvases without preparatory sketches.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32These large canvases are 2 metres square.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38Kusama finds it easiest to paint sitting on an office chair
0:04:38 > 0:04:41with an assistant wheeling her into position.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10Mid project, Frances Morris,
0:05:10 > 0:05:14the curator of the Tate exhibition, visits Kusama's studio.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18Hello, hello, Frances Morris and Rachel.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22- Thank you very much for coming to see us.- No, thank you for...!
0:05:22 > 0:05:26It's a very special day for us, to meet you for the first time.
0:05:26 > 0:05:27We are very excited
0:05:27 > 0:05:31and very grateful that you have made this opportunity for us.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43Kusama had been painting on an almost industrial scale,
0:05:43 > 0:05:46working daily to produce the 100 canvases.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51The scope of the project was a challenge,
0:05:51 > 0:05:54even for an institution the size of Tate Modern.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00We wish we could show a lot of paintings close together,
0:06:00 > 0:06:04very intense. They look fantastic like this.
0:06:04 > 0:06:11ASSISTANT TRANSLATES
0:06:15 > 0:06:20- KASUMA'S ASSISTANT:- Do you think these paintings are fantastic?
0:06:20 > 0:06:24Yeah. They're more than fantastic.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29ASSISTANT TRANSLATES
0:06:29 > 0:06:33I think what the problem...the challenge
0:06:33 > 0:06:36is there is almost too much good work.
0:06:36 > 0:06:44ASSISTANT TRANSLATES
0:06:47 > 0:06:49She wants to show all of them.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51I know, I know.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56For me, there's a huge amount of work to do
0:06:56 > 0:06:59because one of the things I've realised
0:06:59 > 0:07:01during the course of these three days
0:07:01 > 0:07:05is that the published material on Kusama
0:07:05 > 0:07:11does not adequately cover her career and her history
0:07:11 > 0:07:14at any moment in time.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16So, I'm learning new things every day.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19I'm aware that it is a huge challenge.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30Kusama lives and works in Japan.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34Her paintings are created in a purpose-built studio in Tokyo.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39But her prolific output also includes novels, poems,
0:07:39 > 0:07:41films, fashion and sculpture.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50Kusama is visiting the Toyko factory
0:07:50 > 0:07:53where her latest creations of flowers and dogs
0:07:53 > 0:07:55are being given their high-gloss finish.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06Kusama relies on her assistants to complete her trademark sculptures
0:08:06 > 0:08:09to her exacting standards.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12She's on hand to apply the finishing touches.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35Kusama's fantastical, candy-coloured sculptures of dogs,
0:09:35 > 0:09:39flowers, pumpkins and children have become sought-after centre-pieces
0:09:39 > 0:09:42of civic plazas and public buildings across the globe.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52While her trademark polka dots are known internationally,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55Kusama herself has become a celebrity.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58She's the object of intense public and press curiosity
0:09:58 > 0:10:00both abroad and in Japan.
0:10:23 > 0:10:28Yayoi Kusama was born in 1929 in the central Japanese city of Matsumoto.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36She was the youngest daughter of a wealthy and conservative family,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39who owned a large horticultural business.
0:10:41 > 0:10:46The business is still in the family, now run by Kusama's nephew.
0:11:20 > 0:11:25Kusama's early life in rural Japan was one surrounded by plants
0:11:25 > 0:11:28and flowers, outlined in beautiful, confident line drawings
0:11:28 > 0:11:30in her sketchbooks.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36But it was also a childhood haunted by obsessive thoughts
0:11:36 > 0:11:38and terrifying hallucinations.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44It would be the start of a lifelong battle with mental illness.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47Kusama recounts her first childhood vision.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37With no vocabulary to express her fears,
0:12:37 > 0:12:41Kusama began to recreate these patterns in her drawings.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48She drew this uneasy portrait of her mother when she was 10 years old.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51Her mother's face and kimono are covered in dots.
0:12:51 > 0:12:55Prefiguring the polka dot motif that would later make her name,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58but suggesting a darker, more troubled source
0:12:58 > 0:13:01than the playful psychedelia of popular perception.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11Kusama's parents had an unhappy marriage.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13Her father was constantly unfaithful.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17Her mother would force the young Kusama to spy on her father
0:13:17 > 0:13:19during these extramarital liaisons.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25Her puritanical mother's enraged reaction
0:13:25 > 0:13:27instilled a terror of sex
0:13:27 > 0:13:30that Kusama would spend a lifetime trying to overcome.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36The polka dots that would come to define her work were
0:13:36 > 0:13:40her way of distancing herself from these traumas.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44The repetitive patterns would break down her sense of self.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49Her desire for obliteration was born.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55Despite her mother's disapproval, art became Kusama's only outlet
0:13:55 > 0:14:00for her intense anxieties during her school years.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02Her high school friends remember the young artist
0:14:02 > 0:14:03during this formative time.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54After finishing high school, Kusama defied her parents,
0:14:54 > 0:14:56turning her back on the family business
0:14:56 > 0:14:59and leaving home to attend art school in Kyoto.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04The conservative style taught at the school
0:15:04 > 0:15:06stifled Kusama's artistic instincts.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12In her 1948 painting Onions, the vegetables are represented
0:15:12 > 0:15:14with formal precision,
0:15:14 > 0:15:17but the warped, chequered table cloth suggest a growing rebellion
0:15:17 > 0:15:20against the restraints of the traditional Kyoto art world.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48Dispirited by her experience at art school,
0:15:48 > 0:15:50Kusama retreated to the family home
0:15:50 > 0:15:53where she began to explore different styles of painting.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02This was the austere post-war period and with materials scarce,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05Kusama had to improvise her own canvases
0:16:05 > 0:16:07out of discarded seed sacks.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44When she was 22, Kusama created a mysterious
0:16:44 > 0:16:47and dark painting titled Inside The Forest.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52She scratched the surface of the paint with a nail.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54A pattern of compulsive behaviour
0:16:54 > 0:16:56that would become familiar in later work.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Kusama was searching for a style of her own
0:17:01 > 0:17:03and a place in which she could develop it.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09In 1957, she broke free from the stifling claustrophobia
0:17:09 > 0:17:13of her disapproving mother and the restrictive Japanese art world.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16She was determined to break away from the people
0:17:16 > 0:17:19and expectations that were holding her back.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22Her brother recalled her dramatic preparations to leave.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10For Kusama, there was only one place in the world
0:18:10 > 0:18:14where she could possibly fulfil her artistic ambitions...
0:18:14 > 0:18:15New York City.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20In the late 1950s, New York was overtaking Paris
0:18:20 > 0:18:23as the centre of the artistic world.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27Anything was possible in this increasingly permissive city.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30Its confidence and creativity reflected Kusama's own.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37But these early years in New York were not easy.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40Winters in her unheated apartment were often so cold
0:18:40 > 0:18:43she stayed up all night painting.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45Sometimes she couldn't even afford to eat.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50Kusama was not disheartened.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53She felt she was on the verge of something great.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57She often took the elevator to the top of the Empire State Building
0:18:57 > 0:18:58to gaze at her adopted city.
0:19:01 > 0:19:06Kusama wrote, "Looking down from the world's greatest skyscraper
0:19:06 > 0:19:09"I felt I was standing at the threshold of all worldly ambition
0:19:09 > 0:19:12"where truly anything was possible.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15"My hands are empty now, but I'll fill them
0:19:15 > 0:19:18"with everything my heart desires right here in New York.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24"Such longing was like a roaring fire inside me.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27"My commitment to a revolution in art caused the blood to run hot
0:19:27 > 0:19:30"in my veins and even made me forget my hunger."
0:19:34 > 0:19:38Photographer Lock Huey knew Kusama in these New York early years.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42You know, she would seek out certain people
0:19:42 > 0:19:45to have a photo with.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48But, you know, it was OK with me, I didn't mind doing it.
0:19:48 > 0:19:49I just said, "OK, sure."
0:19:51 > 0:19:56But she was playing the whole thing of being from Japan
0:19:56 > 0:19:59and she wanted to wear a costume, you know?
0:19:59 > 0:20:00This is more like a costume.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10Kusama's feverish self-promotion was matched
0:20:10 > 0:20:13by the energy of her artistic experimentation.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17Two years after her arrival in New York, she made a breakthrough
0:20:17 > 0:20:20with a series of abstract paintings called Infinity Net.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30These huge canvases, sometimes nearly ten meters long,
0:20:30 > 0:20:35were filled with endlessly repeated lace-like loops of paint.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Obsessive, expansive, spectral.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41The Infinity Nets represented a personal breakthrough.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45Kusama had discovered the style that would announce her to the world.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52Her work chimed with the Abstract Expressionism of the late 1950s.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58Kusama was a leading light in New York's avant-garde scene,
0:20:58 > 0:21:02with her paintings exhibited alongside work by Andy Warhol,
0:21:02 > 0:21:04her barometer of success.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13Four decades later, the Infinity Net paintings fetch colossal prices
0:21:13 > 0:21:16on the international art market helping make Yayoi Kusama
0:21:16 > 0:21:21one of the world's best-selling living artists.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25- AUCTIONEER:- 3,700,000. 3.7 million again to Jean Paul.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32Kusama's being visited by Glenn Scott Wright
0:21:32 > 0:21:34of London's Victoria Miro Gallery,
0:21:34 > 0:21:36the international agents for her work.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43Hello, very nice to see you.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47Kusama's work is in demand
0:21:47 > 0:21:49and Wright has come armed with a shopping list.
0:21:49 > 0:21:54We have some requests for pumpkins and for dogs.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57Because last summer we showed pumpkins and dogs,
0:21:57 > 0:21:59but we sold all of them.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01So, we have more people who want them.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05They have been asking us, "Can you get us any pumpkins or any dogs?"
0:22:21 > 0:22:25Sure. I mean, I think a modest increase is fine.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30I wouldn't make the increase too aggressive, but, you know...
0:22:53 > 0:22:57A few months after the meeting, the requested pumpkin sculptures
0:22:57 > 0:23:02proved as in demand as ever at the International Art Fair in Paris.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04Oh, we are big collectors of Kusama.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08We have...I don't know how many. I think eight or nine.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12And I think she is one of the most important living artists
0:23:12 > 0:23:14of our time.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Obviously, the dot paintings, that's what makes her famous.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23But I think these sculptures here, they are so special
0:23:23 > 0:23:26and we'll probably go for it.
0:23:26 > 0:23:27So, I just put the reserve on it.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30We will have to decide until tomorrow.
0:23:30 > 0:23:32But I'm almost decided.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35Now, I need the OK of my wife.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38But she is also very, very much in favour of it.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40Everybody is gearing up for the Tate, right?
0:23:40 > 0:23:44- Buying before the Tate show.- But that's why you should.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46The price will be more and they're unique pieces,
0:23:46 > 0:23:48so they won't be available.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50This is the gamble that I like to take.
0:23:50 > 0:23:55It isn't about investment or not, but because I'm not 100% sure
0:23:55 > 0:23:58and if I come back tomorrow, it could be that someone before me
0:23:58 > 0:24:02was there then I've lost my chance, but life goes on.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09Kusama makes art that makes money.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12She sees no contradiction between artistic vision
0:24:12 > 0:24:13and business enterprise.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30One of her most recent ventures was a collaboration
0:24:30 > 0:24:32with luxury goods brand Louis Vuitton.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50Kusama doesn't just lend her trademark polka dots
0:24:50 > 0:24:51to international brands.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54She's literally the face of the latest sales campaign.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00We thought it would be really nice to have her
0:25:00 > 0:25:03in every major city for people to walk past
0:25:03 > 0:25:06and for it to kind of stop them.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44A few months later a life-size Kusama mannequin was unwrapped
0:25:44 > 0:25:48at Louis Vuitton's flagship store on New York's 5th Avenue.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10Meanwhile, the real Kusama was also in New York
0:26:10 > 0:26:12to launch her latest commercial collaboration
0:26:12 > 0:26:15and spread the polka dot love
0:26:15 > 0:26:18to Manhattan's upmarket handbag and shoe collectors.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21And what do you think about the meaning
0:26:21 > 0:26:23of this collection to the people?
0:26:47 > 0:26:49Yes, we would love to.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18But back at her hotel, the exertions of the day
0:27:18 > 0:27:19had caught up with Kusama.
0:27:50 > 0:27:51Meanwhile, across town,
0:27:51 > 0:27:54a gala dinner was being held in Kusama's honour.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01200 guests drawn from the city's glittering art world
0:28:01 > 0:28:04had gathered to celebrate their lost daughter.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40By 7pm, the speeches were under way,
0:28:40 > 0:28:43but only a polka dot handbag occupied the seat reserved
0:28:43 > 0:28:44for the guest of honour.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50She has used her life to touch people's hearts.
0:28:50 > 0:28:55She has protected herself and sacrificed herself for art.
0:28:55 > 0:28:57We are blessed that she is in our home.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00Thank you and bon appetite.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59While the New York art world may now have adopted Kusama
0:29:59 > 0:30:03as one of their own, her experience in the city five decades ago
0:30:03 > 0:30:05was one of almost constant struggle.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11She may have achieved recognition amongst fellow artists
0:30:11 > 0:30:14for her Infinity Net paintings, but she was still up against
0:30:14 > 0:30:17an almost exclusively male establishment.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27Hi. Come on in. Good afternoon.
0:30:27 > 0:30:29Come on in. This way.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33Gallery owner Gertrude Stein
0:30:33 > 0:30:36staged some of Kusama's earliest New York shows
0:30:36 > 0:30:39and was well aware of the challenges she faced.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43It was very hard for women to get there, very hard at that point.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45And she knew it. And she knew she had to be extra strong,
0:30:45 > 0:30:48extra smart and extra talented, which she was.
0:30:48 > 0:30:49She really was.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58By the early '60s, Kusama's frenetic experimentation
0:30:58 > 0:31:02had led her away from painting and towards sculpture.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10But it was a strange and unsettling kind of sculpture.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18Kusama covered salvaged furniture with white, phallic objects.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26Multiplying, writhing and only semi-erect,
0:31:26 > 0:31:28these so-called 'soft sculptures'
0:31:28 > 0:31:31were parodies of masculinity,
0:31:31 > 0:31:34perhaps an expression of her distaste
0:31:34 > 0:31:35for her father's promiscuity.
0:31:38 > 0:31:42In 1963, she created probably her most famous 'soft-sculpture'
0:31:42 > 0:31:45for exhibition at Gertrude Stein's gallery.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52The centrepiece of the installation was a rowing boat
0:31:52 > 0:31:56covered with phalluses made of soft furnishings.
0:31:56 > 0:32:00On the surrounding walls were 999 photos of the 'penis-boat'.
0:32:04 > 0:32:08To complete the piece, Kusama had herself photographed naked
0:32:08 > 0:32:11in the middle of this display of overbearing machismo.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17She had this idea for some time before she did it.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20It was some kind of dream of hers to do a big piece, yeah.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22A one piece show.
0:32:22 > 0:32:23What did I think about it?
0:32:23 > 0:32:26I thought it was a very important statement to make.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29And this was what was called 'The Penis Boat'.
0:32:29 > 0:32:30Not in a bad sense,
0:32:30 > 0:32:34but they were not afraid of expressing sexual themes.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38And nobody else was doing that.
0:32:38 > 0:32:40I mean homosexuality was impossible,
0:32:40 > 0:32:43everything was impossible about sexuality.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45It was clearing out the air.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48That's what she was trying to do. Just another playing field.
0:32:54 > 0:32:57As the '60s progressed, Kusama became increasingly associated
0:32:57 > 0:32:59with the sexual liberation
0:32:59 > 0:33:02and radical politics of the hippy counterculture.
0:33:05 > 0:33:10At a series of 'naked happenings' staged at key New York landmarks,
0:33:10 > 0:33:14Kusama daubed her followers bodies with brightly-coloured polka dots.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30Kusama's colourful gatherings were a continuation of her desire
0:33:30 > 0:33:34for self-obliteration that had haunted her since childhood.
0:33:36 > 0:33:37Speaking later,
0:33:37 > 0:33:41she described the idea behind these performance art pieces.
0:33:41 > 0:33:44"I played the role of high priestess.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47"To get baptized at the Church of Self-Obliteration
0:33:47 > 0:33:52"people first have their bodies painted all over with polka dots.
0:33:52 > 0:33:56"Painting bodies with the patterns of my hallucinations
0:33:56 > 0:33:58"obliterated their individual selves
0:33:58 > 0:34:00"and returned them to the infinite universe.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06"This is magic."
0:34:08 > 0:34:11But despite Kusama's calculated provocations,
0:34:11 > 0:34:15she remained fully-clothed, dancing awkwardly on the sidelines.
0:34:17 > 0:34:19These anti-war, free love events
0:34:19 > 0:34:22were also a way of overcoming the childhood trauma
0:34:22 > 0:34:24of her father's affairs.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28Her art was, once again, a form of therapy.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34But her constant self-promotion and shock tactics
0:34:34 > 0:34:36began to alienated her former supporters
0:34:36 > 0:34:38in the New York art world.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42Her work had been overshadowed by the publicity stunts
0:34:42 > 0:34:44intended to promote it.
0:34:44 > 0:34:46The critics turned against her,
0:34:46 > 0:34:49a devastating development for the fragile Kusama.
0:34:51 > 0:34:57In 1973, broke, depressed and lonely, she returned to Japan.
0:35:02 > 0:35:05But Kusama's homecoming was to be more traumatic than anything
0:35:05 > 0:35:07she had experienced in America.
0:35:10 > 0:35:15She attempted to stage a happening, which was greeted with shock.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19The conservative, post-war Japanese public were not as receptive
0:35:19 > 0:35:21to free love and public nudity.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24The Japanese press attacked her.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27Exhausted and humiliated,
0:35:27 > 0:35:30she found the jeering headlines too much to bear.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38Kusama checked herself into Seiwa Hospital For The Mentally Ill
0:35:38 > 0:35:41in 1975 when she was 46 years old.
0:35:47 > 0:35:51Apart from a few short forays abroad, she's lived here ever since.
0:36:47 > 0:36:51Up until the late '90s, Kusama had her own studio
0:36:51 > 0:36:54within the hospital where she would spend her days
0:36:54 > 0:36:58creating the abstract works that would be exhibited across the world.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17Kusama now works in a purpose-built 5-storey studio
0:37:17 > 0:37:19just around the corner from the hospital.
0:37:30 > 0:37:34Her art remains the only outlet for the fears and obsessions
0:37:34 > 0:37:35that continue to plague her.
0:39:06 > 0:39:11Today, Yayoi Kusama is expecting a special visitor,
0:39:11 > 0:39:13her new psychiatrist, Dr Matsunami.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16THEY SPEAK JAPANESE
0:41:32 > 0:41:36For nearly 40 years, the psychiatric hospital has offered Kusama
0:41:36 > 0:41:38a respite from the mental anguish
0:41:38 > 0:41:40that has plagued her since childhood.
0:41:57 > 0:41:59Kusama worked on her 100 Canvas Series
0:41:59 > 0:42:02for the Tate Modern exhibition for many months.
0:42:08 > 0:42:10It was a mammoth project,
0:42:10 > 0:42:13seeing Kusama producing one painting a day.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17This would be her 90th canvas.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15But Kusama didn't show up the next day, or the day after.
0:43:16 > 0:43:22Finally, on the third day, word arrived from the clinic.
0:43:22 > 0:43:26HE SPEAKS IN JAPANESE
0:43:58 > 0:44:01Up until now, Kusama had always seemed to welcome
0:44:01 > 0:44:03the presence of the camera.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06Suddenly, it seemed to break her concentration.
0:44:25 > 0:44:27Finally, Kusama seemed able to act.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53This was the first time Kusama had painted over any of her work
0:44:53 > 0:44:56in the whole of the year-and-a-half long project.
0:45:17 > 0:45:20Kusama still wasn't satisfied with the piece.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23She returned to the canvas many more times,
0:45:23 > 0:45:25mulling over how to complete the work.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47Finally, Kusama felt happy with the painting.
0:47:25 > 0:47:26In February 2012,
0:47:26 > 0:47:29a major retrospective of Kusama's work,
0:47:29 > 0:47:33with the complete 100 Canvas Series at its centre,
0:47:33 > 0:47:36opened at Tate Modern on London's South Bank.
0:47:45 > 0:47:49Kusama travelled from Japan to attend the opening.
0:48:00 > 0:48:04Hello, hey.
0:48:04 > 0:48:07I'm so thrilled to see you!
0:48:07 > 0:48:09So, this is the press of London.
0:48:09 > 0:48:11Yeah.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14And then we think this is the most beautiful room
0:48:14 > 0:48:20of your Infinity Net paintings from the late '50s and early '60s.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23I couldn't imagine I'd get to be at this room, you know?
0:48:23 > 0:48:26No. Everything is going to work wonderfully.
0:48:26 > 0:48:28- Everything is wonderful.- Yeah.
0:48:28 > 0:48:32And there's a piece here that you will not have seen for many years...
0:48:32 > 0:48:34- Yeah.- ..in this room.
0:48:34 > 0:48:36- Would you like to see it?- I want to see it.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44She never gets old.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46For me, Kusama's work is always of its age
0:48:46 > 0:48:49and it's always a young artist's work of its age
0:48:49 > 0:48:51and I think that's extraordinary.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58To coincide with the retrospective at Tate Modern,
0:48:58 > 0:49:02the Victoria Miro Gallery staged a sale of some of Kusama's new work.
0:49:05 > 0:49:09Oh, I love this new art! This new art is so much fun.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13I bought this one. Magic carpets or something, you know?
0:49:15 > 0:49:17Isn't it wonderful?
0:49:20 > 0:49:24Kusama has never been more famous, more popular, more bankable.
0:49:24 > 0:49:26For the elderly artist,
0:49:26 > 0:49:28it's a vindication of her lifelong struggle.
0:49:51 > 0:49:53It has been a long day.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56Kusama is back at her hotel.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00The excitement of the exhibition is a far cry from her daily life.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26Despite the exhibition's success,
0:50:26 > 0:50:28Kusama's demons are never very far away.
0:51:09 > 0:51:11In spite of her fragility,
0:51:11 > 0:51:14Kusama is more popular than ever both internationally
0:51:14 > 0:51:16and back home in Japan.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24While most 85-year-olds might be thinking of winding down,
0:51:24 > 0:51:26that's the last thing on Kusama's mind.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40Her work continues to intrigue audiences,
0:51:40 > 0:51:43providing a glimpse into her eye-popping world.
0:52:41 > 0:52:45Kusama's been honoured in cities and town across the country.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48The town of Towada has created a sculpture park
0:52:48 > 0:52:50for her enigmatic creations.
0:53:02 > 0:53:06Kusama's polka dot universe can still inspire party goers today.
0:53:33 > 0:53:35The ladies take to the floor,
0:53:35 > 0:53:40replete with Kusama's trademark hair to celebrate their native daughter.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05In Tokyo, building is under way on a new museum
0:54:05 > 0:54:08designed to house Kusama's work.
0:54:08 > 0:54:10Finally, she'll have a permanent home
0:54:10 > 0:54:12for a lifetime of artistic creations.
0:55:16 > 0:55:21For Kusama, work isn't a choice. It's a compulsion.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23Her art is a strange alchemy,
0:55:23 > 0:55:25transforming fears and anxieties
0:55:25 > 0:55:28into something vibrant and beautiful.
0:56:30 > 0:56:33Kusama's work has been a means of survival
0:56:33 > 0:56:36in a world that has both rejected and embraced her.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58Yayoi Kusama's compulsive need to create
0:56:58 > 0:57:00has taken her from rural Japan
0:57:00 > 0:57:03to New York's abstract scene in the 1960s
0:57:03 > 0:57:06and on to the contemporary art world of Tokyo.
0:57:39 > 0:57:43Her trademark polka dots and phallic soft sculptures
0:57:43 > 0:57:46offer a vibrant glimpse into a troubled mind.
0:58:02 > 0:58:06Kusama's work is a triumphant, colourful act of defiance,
0:58:06 > 0:58:08creating beauty from fear
0:58:08 > 0:58:12and guaranteeing her place in the history of contemporary art.