Yayoi Kusama at The Whitney

I attended the Yayoi Kusama opening at The Whitney, showcasing the Japanese pop artist's prolific work. The show spans several decades of her paintings and sculptures that exude both explosive color and vibrancy. I personally loved her later paintings, located where you first enter into the show, which are uplifting and utterly hypnotizing.  Kusama left her native Japan, first setting in Seattle and later making her mark in New York City in the1960s. A contemporary to Warhol and semi rival as well, Kusama challenged the mostly male dominated art scene with her defiant and sexually charged artworks.  She fell from prominence in the 1970s and returned to Japan, where she has since lived and worked out of a mental hospital. Kusama is now enjoying  a newfound resurgence, just having had a major retrospective at the Tate Modern and a new fashion collaboration with Louis Vuitton. The show runs till Sept 30, for more info click here