Did you know that in 1977, the great Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama voluntarily chose to reside in a psychiatric clinic in Tokyo, where she lives and continues her artistic work to this day?
Yayoi Kusama was born in 1929, and from an early age, she experienced visual and auditory hallucinations—flowers creeping up the walls, dots dancing, and colorful waves engulfing her surroundings. These distressing episodes, however, led her to find solace in drawing, creating intricate polka-dot patterns and net motifs. Despite the obvious positive impact of art on Kusama's psyche, her conservative family, particularly her mother, strongly opposed her artistic pursuits, believing a respectable woman couldn't be an artist.
That didn’t stop Kusama from enrolling in an art school in Kyoto against her family’s wishes. However, in less than a year of studying, she realized she was confined within the world of classical art which dulled to her. At the same time, she was captivated by the avant-garde and abstraction. After eventually moving to the USA in 1957, she established herself as a multi-disciplinary artist, successfully working in the fields of painting, sculpture, fashion, design, installation, and performance art.
But whatever direction of art she was choosing, she always remained devoted to her favorite form of patterns—polka dot. Her art is obssesed by repetition and multiplication of motifs.
In this study, we take a look at the Midjourney style of one of the most influential figures in the contemporary art both in Japan and worldwide.
Yayoi Kusama in Midjourney
Midjourney is well-acquainted with Yayoi Kusama's powerful style: her painting and sculpture styles, mirror rooms, endless patterns, streamlined shapes, vibrant colors, and, indeed, infinite dots (and pumpkins!).
Kusama's name holds such dominance that placing it at the beginning of the prompt often leaves little room for anything beyond her distinctive artistic elements.
Unexpected Applications
But what if we append Kusama’s name to an unexpected prompt, stepping outside the realm of the great artist? Imagine her creating manga comics, designing wire lines, or inventing an engine. What about her unique take on the Google Maps interface?
Prompts referring Kusama’s style would often transform regular objects, enveloping them in dots, vibrant colors, adding a touch of madness, and endless patterns.
Infinite styles
Finally, the fusion of Yayoi Kusama with other Midjourney styles has a fascinating dynamic: the results frequently adopt Kusama's colors and patterns and seamlessly integrate them into the original context, subjects, and compositions of the secondary style.
With this article, we are starting a series of materials focusing on various Midjourney styles, telling stories of their real-life prototypes, and exploring various applications of those styles for your artistic projects.
Until next week,
— Maria, Midlibrary Experimentalist
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