Kusama: Infinity

I wish I saw this 2018 documentary before I saw Yayoi Kusama's wondrously expansive exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden last year because it would've given me a deeper appreciation of the genesis of her art and how she views the enveloping scope of nature, something she realized she shared with Georgia O'Keefe. As seen through her unique eye-popping pieces, Kusama's colorful expressiveness is meticulously hypnotic, and filmmaker Heather Lenz does a remarkably thorough job tracking the now-93-year-old artist's relentless tenacity in light of the racism and sexism she faced over the decades in getting her art seen.

Truly informative AND entertaining film about one of the most significant artists of her generation. If you know about Andy Warhol and his contemporaries but you don't know Kusama there are reasons for that - watch the movie and you'll see why being Japanese and a woman made her ripe for those guys to rip her off, use her genius for their own acclaim. But we're in a different era, and it's not Warhol whose art shows draw crowds out the door and down N. Grand Ave. at the Broad Museum and others around the world. I saw this film at Sundance and again at a LACMA screening in Los Angeles and I'm impressed by the painstaking detail with which the director executed her vision (Director Heather Lenz). Whether or not feminism, women's issues, race, etc. are categories that draw your interest, the look into the life and mind of an intense artist like Kusama is revealing.

An infinitely amazing, thoughtful, compassionate and deeply profound look at one of the most influential and unsung artists of the modern era. Director Heather Lenz captures the eccentric essence of this fascinating figure, while also making a bigger statement about overlooked female artists and artists of color. It creates a compelling and shocking case for how Kusama's vision influenced greats like Warhol, but how she got none of the credit. The exclusive footage Lenz caught of Kusama is amazing and rare. This film demands to be seen because Kusama demands to be known.

This has to be one of the best documentaries I've seen this year. This film really makes justice to one of the greatest artists of our time. The way Kusama's work is depicted on screen is absolutely incredible. At times, it almost feels like you've been absorbed by one of her paintings. This film also reveals key facts of her life and the art scene of the time. You'll be blown away! Definitely there should be more documentaries like this. A must-see on the big screen!

Score: 10/10

FJ Medina

Heather Lenz directs an important, timely, and fascinating film about the now 89-year-old artist, Yayoi Kusama. A Japanese who in the early 1960s escaped her stifling family to begin her career in New York, where she innovated--as Lenz's film reveals--only to have her concepts and techniques stolen by the likes of Warhol, Oldenburg, et al. These men soon eclipsed her celebrity, and at her expense. Very critical correction of the historical record. Lenz also locates the origins of some of Kusama's visual motifs in childhood trauma, which had resulted in hallucinations and then obsession with hallucinated shapes and patterns. Kusama herself acknowledges as much and credits art-making with her survival. Her mirrored "infinity room" installations, giant polka-dotted pumpkins, and huge paintings covered obsessively with her personal iconography, now draw huge crowds at museums and galleries all over the world. Heather Lenz has not only drawn a powerful portrait of an artist whose late fame has intense cultural significance, but has also set a humanistic standard for the accounting of biographical details and, critically, for setting the historical record straight.