Thursday, January 17, 2019

Kusama: Infinity

Interestingly straightforward and low-key biographical approach to documenting Kusama's colourful art and life. It draws a link between her mental health challenges and her art without offering a particularly strong perspective on its exact nature (though there's something there in the way her art appears to be seeking an expression of the experience of being overwhelmed), and takes a similarly lightly suggestive approach to the question of how she became the person and artist that she ultimately did (there are interesting hints from her childhood and family background, including of some kind of trauma experienced in a field of flowers). Also interesting were the bits about the struggles Kusama faced in the white male dominated art world of the 1960s, including - the documentary argues - having her ideas ripped off by more established peers, and the curious relationship she had with Joseph Cornell.

(w/ Kim)