I have affection for almost all voluntary mental patients, so Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese artist who has lived in a psychiatric institution for over forty years now, has a special place in my heart. The show that was recently at the Tate and threatens to burst into New York shortly I saw, in fact, at the Pompidou back in November. The art was interesting, of course –– all dots and phalluses –– but the best part were the cautionary signs translated (poorly) from French that read, “Warning: some work in this show may hurt the public’s feelings.”
Yayoi has now come back as a sort of belated art-world darling, even –– and this is almost too good to be true –– collaborating with Marc Jacobs on a line for Louis Vuitton. My two top Yayoi-related wishes are to own the below or a copy of one of her “strange cathartic novels” such as The Hustlers Grotto of Christopher Street.
I bet it costs about $1 million.
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