Japan’s Yayoi Kusama, global polka-dot art icon, dies at 97

Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama, wearing a bright red wig and a Louis Vuitton polka dot scarf, speaks during an interview at her studio in Tokyo, on Aug. 1, 2012. (Photo: AP) Yayoi Kusama, Japanese contemporary art icon known for her polka dots, died on August 14 at a hospital in Tokyo, her studio said Thursday. She was 97.Kusama’s career spanned more than seven decades and crossed painting, sculpture, installations, performance, film and literature. Her repeated patterns, mirrored spaces and immersive installations eventually made her one of Japan’s best-known contemporary artists.Her studio said Kusama continued painting until her final days and would carry forward her wishes through art, bringing “hope and strength for the future” to people around the world, according to the Associated Press.Why did dots become Kusama’s defining language?Kusama traced her fascination with repeated patterns to hallucinations she experienced as a child, when she said she saw the world covered in spots.Those visions became a recurring element of her work. Polka dots appeared across her paintings, sculptures and installations, alongside nets, swirls and other repeated forms. Her mirrored in...