Noriko Takasugi, “Yayoi Kusama in Costume”

This portrait of artist Yayoi Kusama dressed in costume, seated in front of one of her pumpkin paintings, was taken at her Tokyo studio  by photographer Noriko Takasugi. Currently based in Tokyo, Takasugi majored in clinical psychology at Waseda University and participated in the Place M Photography Collective in Tokyo. She graduated with a masters degree in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at London College of Communication, University of Arts. She worked as an editor for monthly graphic magazines and is now  focused on her photography, with a particular emphasis on the people of Fukushima.

Born in March of 1929, avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama works primarily in sculpture, painting, and installation projects, but is also active in film, fashion, poetry, and performance art. She was an influential figure in the postwar New York art scene, staging provocative happenings and exhibiting works such as her “Infinity Nets”, hallucinatory paintings of loops and dots. Her “Narcissus Garden”, an installation of hundreds of mirrored balls, earned Kusama notoriety at the 1996 Venice Biennale, where she attempted to sell the individual spheres to passerby. She is often considered an influence on Andy Warhol and a precursor to Pop Art.

The website for Yayoi Kusama, including up-coming exhibitions can be found at: http://yayoi-kusama.jp