Top Living Artists of 2015
I’ve got a deep appreciation for Yayoi Kusama – featured with red hair in image with link to art.net article. The article said the artist’s passion for polka dots is rivaled only by the market’s demand for them. Nicely put. At the age of 10, Kusama painted spots to combat mental illness by visualizing her hallucinations.
Art.net said that by the ’60s, she was staging New York happenings among the city’s avant-garde set (think: polka-dot painted orgies). And today, on occasional leave from the Tokyo sanitarium where she’s lived by choice since 1977, she’ll grace a charmed crowd with an appearance, clad head-to-toe in dots (not even her wheelchair is spared).
British Abstract Painter Damien Hirst is also on the list. He’s got a gallery in South London that opened in October of this year. So far, reviews have been good for the new gallery. in 2008, 111 million pounds of his work sold at auction (!) but his work’s prices plummeted with the economic recession.
And of course Yoko Ono made the list, although I don’t recall seeing any of her work anywhere for some reason. Although, the article said she uses a social media presence to promote peace and anti-gun violence. She also made a giant peace sign in Central Park. I learned her earlier performance work is very conceptual. Check out her “One Woman Show 1960-1971” when you can.
One of my newly discovered faves Cindy Sherman also made the list. New Jersey born and with a five decade career, I truly appreciate her obsession with self-representation. Her photography shows her transformed into movie stars, clowns, victims, characters…all relating to identity. Check out her “Untitled Film Stills” which are portraits inspired by late 70’s movie stills. Sigh, the 70’s.
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