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Title:UntitledArtist:Yayoi Kusama Date:1967Creation Place:Asia, JapanCredit Line:The John R. Van Derlip FundAccession Number:2010.7Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama's work is widely diverse in theory and practice, including painting, drawing, sculpture, assemblage, performance, video, and installation. At one point, she ventured into the fashion world with her own clothing line. During the decade she lived in New York-1958 to 1968-she was especially known for her exuberant abstract paintings, which used a signature motif known as an "infinity net"-interlocking shapes painted with netlike patterns.
In Untitled, Kusama added her characteristic polka dots over the infinity nets, creating yet another dimension. This work was made shortly before she returned to Japan to seek treatment for the hallucinations and obsessive thoughts that had troubled her since childhood. Kusama has often said making art is the way she manages her obsessions.