Yayoi Kusama: Fashionably Fabulous at 83 !!??!!!

Kusuma for Louis Vuitton

Recently, the house of Louis Vuitton, spearheaded by Marc Jacobs, introduced a line of brightly hued handbags and frocks featuring the signature polka-dot motif of 83 year-old Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama.

Born in 1929, this avant-garde painter, sculpture and writer has been active since the 1960′s and has been deemed the Princess of the Polka-Dot. Over the years, her polka-dots have been featured on everything from pumpkins to horses in installations and museums all around the globe.

photo courtesy of Kasuma and Whitney Museum

Setting a record for any living female artist sold at auction, Kasuma’s white painting titled “Infinity Net” sold at Christie’s New York for an astounding for $5.1 million in 2008. Kasuma’s many artistic accomplishments are made even more intriguing by the fact that this complex artist has been residing in a psychiatric hospital for the past forty years, commuting to and from her artist studio in Tokyo daily.

Kasuma installation at Hudson Park’s Pier 54 (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

It is hard to decide what I find more amazing about this woman; her ability to use the simple polka-dot to create patterns and designs that transform any object into a moving work of art or the fact that in her eighties she still going strong and influencing generations with her creative brilliance. In either case, she’s an incredibly inspiring icon and a fascinating artistic genius.