Yayoi Kusama

In 1998 I pursued earning my teaching credentials. This meant taking thirty hours of education courses. When I completed the coursework, by the end of 1999, I began to obsess about trends in current art. What was happening that would define 21st century art. My course from 1985 needed some updating. In browsing the art books at Barnes and Noble, I found came across a series of books published by Phaidon. It is called “Contemporary Artists.”

The first book I just happened to discover had artwork that fascinated me. This was before I began working on the first eight code paintings. The artist is Yayoi Kusama and her work (some of her work is visually sexual) happens to include dots. She creates installations that are a combination of feminism, surrealism, pop and minimalism. As I’ve continued to paint the dot paintings, I’ve referred back to her work to spur me forward.