Yayoi Kusama
Painter, sculptor, filmmaker, and performer Yayoi Kusama (Japanese, b.1929) is a famously provocative avant-garde artist, best known for her works featuring repeating motifs and psychedelic imagery that evoke themes of psychology, feminism, obsession, sex, creation, destruction, and intense self-reflection. Kusama was born in Matsumoto City and began painting at the age of 10, as a means of escaping a childhood of neglect and expressing her early experiences with hallucinogenic visions. These apparitions consisted of dots and patterns enveloping her surroundings, suggesting issues of mental illness which have continued to strongly influence her work. Inspired by a letter she received from Georgia O’Keefe, Kusama moved to New York City in 1957 to pursue a career as an artist. Over the next decade she garnered a reputation as a controversial member of the New York avant-garde, first obsessively working on her series of Infinity Nets, paintings and sculptures featuring meticulous, seemingly endless repetitive motifs.
Over the next few years she also staged elaborate happenings throughout New York City, at one point breaking into the garden of the Museum of Modern Art to perform a happening with several naked assistants. She exhibited her work with Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, and other prominent avant-garde artists throughout the 1960s, before returning to Japan in the early 1970s and living in a mental hospital, where she wrote surreal short stories and poems. She later returned to her previous themes in painting and installation art, creating rooms full of mirrors reflecting her iconic polka dots and Infinity Nets in further meditations on repetition and obsession. After representing Japan at the Venice Biennale in 1993, Kusama’s work received newly heightened recognition from the international art world. She has been honored with the Ordre des Arts et Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture, as well as the Praemium Imperiale prize from the Japanese Art Association. In recent years she has created large public sculptures on commission, and has made several films and documentaries, the most recent released in 2008. The same year, Kusama became the best-selling living female artist, with works breaking record prices at auction. She currently lives and works in Tokyo.
1929 Born in Nagano-Ken, Japan
1948 Entered senior class at the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts & Crafts, Kyoto, Japan
1948–1951 Studied at the Arts and Crafts School, Kyoto, Japan
1957 Moved to Seattle, USA
1957–1958 Studied at the Art Students’ League, New York, USA
1966 Became a US Citizen
1967 Won the Fourth Belgium International Short Film Prize
1968 ‘Self-Obliteration’ is awarded at the 4th International Festival for Short-Films in Belgium
1973 Returned to Japan
1982 Golden prize from the Italian Academy of Arts
1983 Received the Literary Magazine Prize Yasei Jidai for her novel Christopher Homosexual Brother
1996 Received the International Art Critic Association prize
2000 Received Education Minister’s Art Encouragement Prize and Foreign Minister’s commendations
2001 Received the Asahi Prize
2003 Received Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Lives and works in Tokyo, Japan
■ Solo Exhibitions
2013–2014 Yayoi Kusama: Infinite Obsession, Centro Cultural Banco de Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2013 Yayoi Kusama: Eternity of Eternal Eternity, Shizuoka Prefectural museum of Art, Shizuoka, Japan
Yayoi Kusama: Infinite Obsession, Malba – Fundacion Constantini, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Yayoi Kusama: A Dream I Dreamed, Daegu Art Museum, Daegu, Korea
2010 Yayoi Kusama, The Place for My Soul, Matsumoto City Museum of Art, Nagano, Japan
2009 Flowers That Bloom at Midnight, Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA
Yayoi Kusama, , Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY
Yayoi Kusama – I Want to Live Forever – PAC – Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy
Yayoi Kusama – Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Yayoi Kusama – Mirrored Years – Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney – MCA, Sydney, Australia
2008 Yayoi Kusama, Marlborough London, London, UK
Yayoi Kusama, Mirrored Years, Museums Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Yayoi Kusama, Victoria Miro Gallery, London, UK
Yayoi Kusama, Matsumoto City Museum of Art, Nagano, Japan
2007 Yayoi Kusama, Victoria Miro Gallery, London, UK
Yayoi Kusama, Roslyn Oxley 9 Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Yayoi Kusama, Dots Obsession – Dots Transformed into Love, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany; WIELS, Brussel, Belgium
Infinity Nets 2006, MOMA Contemporary, Fukuoka, Japan
2006 Yayoi Kusama, Sakima Art Museum, Okinawa, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Iwami Art Museum, Shimane, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, YAYOI in FOREVER, Forever Museum of Contemporary Art gallery, Akita, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Arndt&Partner, Berlin, Germany
Yayoi Kusama Metamorphosis, Galleria Civica, Modena, Italy
Yayoi Kusama, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY
Crimson Eye, Piece Unique, Paris, France
2005 Yayoi Kusama: Eight Places for Burning Soul, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Hiroshima, Japan
Yayoi Kusama 60’s Fashion, MOMA Contemporary, Fukuoka, Japan
Yayoi Kusama: Sailing the Sea of Infinity, Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, Japan
Yayoi Kusama Furniture by Graf, Galleria Carla Sozzani, Milano, Italy
Yayoi Kusama, Studio Guenzani, Milano, Italy
Yayoi Kusama Partl: Print1980-1983/Painting (recent work), Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama The Place for My Soul, Matsumoto City Museum of Art, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama KA!, 100 Tonson Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
Yayoi Kusama, Jean Art Gallery, Seoul, Korea
Yayoi Kusama: Eternity-Modernity, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
Yayoi Kusama Exhibition, Bunkamura Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Roslyn Oxley 9 Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2004 KUSAMATRIX, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, japan
Yayoi Kusama, Nets 1959-1999, MOMA Contemporary, Fukuoka, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
Yayoi Kusama: Eternity-Modernity, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama Colorist, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan
2003 Yayoi Kusama Prints & Pumpkin Ceramic Object Exhibition, Jean Art Center, Seoul, South Korea
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Sekiryu, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama Prints, Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama-Beyond the Labyrinth, Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Kagawa, Japan; Kushiro Art Museum, Hokkaido, Japan
Yayoi Kusama LOVE FOREVER, Fabian & Claude Water Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland
Yayoi Kusama, J. Johnson Gallery, Jacksonville Beach, FL
Yayoi Kusama, Piece Unique, Paris, France
Yayoi Kusama, Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany
2002 Yayoi Kusama Solitude of the Earth, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY
Yayoi Kusama Mixed Media, MOMA Contemporary, Fukuoka, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Roslyn Oxley 9 Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Yayoi Kusama Silkscreen, Mubanso, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Masuda City Museum, Shimane, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Inoue, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Book cellar amus, Osaka, Japan
Yayoi Kusama/Furniture, graf, Osaka, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Sekiryu, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama Permanent Collection, Matsumoto City Museum of Art, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama Dot paradise in Shangri-La, Kirishima Open-Air Museum, Kagoshima, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Mubanso, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Bass Museum, Miami, FL
Yayoi Kusama, Galeria DECO, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Yayoi Kusama, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY
2001 Death of an Illusion, Piece Unique, Paris, France
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Sekiryu, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Studio Guenzani, Milan, Italy
2000 Yayoi Kusama, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
Yayoi Kusama, Piece Unique, Paris, France
Yayoi Kusama Prints, Mubanso, Nagano, Japan
Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, NY
Yayoi Kusama: Recent Works, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Jean Art Gallery, Seoul, Korea
Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, France; KUNSTHALLE, Wien, Austria; Artsonje Museum, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea
1999 Yayoi Kusama Retrospective Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
Beyond My Illusion, MOMA Contemporary, Fukuoka, Japan
Love Forever: Yayoi Kusama, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
1997 Yayoi Kusama: Recent Work and Paintings from the New York Years, Baumgartner Galleries, Inc., Washington, DC
Yayoi Kusama, Kato Kyobundo, Osaka, Japan
Yayoi Kusama: Obsessional Vision, The Arts Club Chicago, Chicago, IL
Yayoi Kusama Prints, Gallery Olive, Tokyo, Japan
Kusama’s Kusama, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama: Recent Work, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery East, North Fremantle, Australia
Yayoi Kusama: Repetition, Art Gallery Artium, Fukuoka, Japan
1996 Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Olive, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama: A Panorama of My Youth, Media of Modern Art Contemporary Gallery, Fukuoka, Japan
Yayoi Kusama: The 1950s and 1960s, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, NY
Yayoi Kusama: Ten Paintings from the ’60s to the Present, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Ouka Shorin, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama: Recent Work, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY (Japan)
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Haruka, Tokyo, Japan
1995 Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Kura, Matsumoto, Japan
Yayoi Kusama: I Who Committed Suicide, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama Recent Prints – Memorial Shot Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, YU Contemporary Art, Yokohama, Japan
Yayoi Kusama Etchings, 77 Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1994 Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Kura, Matsumoto, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Atelier Kan Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Komagane Kogen Art Museum, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Nagano Prefectural Shinano Art Museum, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Bunkamura Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama: My Solitary Way to Death, Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Orient Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Okayama Art Gallery, Takashimaya Department Store, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Art Wing, Kanagawa, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Chiyoda Gallery, Shizuoka, Japan
Kusama 1970s – Recent Works, Gallery Now, Toyama, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Media of Modern Art Contemporary Gallery (MOMA Contemporary), Fukuoka, Japan
1993 Yayoi Kusama, Galleria Finarte, Nagoya, Japan
Ham Collection: Yayoi Kusama 1952 – 1993, Gallery Ham, Nagoya, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Bunkamura Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Galleria Valentina Moncada, Rome, Italy
Yayoi Kusama, Galleria Cardazzo, Venice, Italy
Yayoi Kusama, Gallerie d’Arte del Naviglio, Venice, Italy
Yayoi Kusama, Shuyu Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Now, Toyama, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Tomita, Hiroshima, Japan
Infinity of Space and Light in the 1950s and 1960s: Yayoi Kusama from the collection of Richard Castellane, Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY
1992 Yayoi Kusama, Art Gallery K2, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Aries, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Ouka Shorin, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Bunkamura Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Takeuchi, Aichi, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Art Gallery K2, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Kura, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Esprit-Nouveau, Okayama, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Toki, Hokkaido, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Media of Modern Art Contemporary (MOMA Contemporary), Fukuoka, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, YU Contemporary Art, Kanagawa, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Lamia, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama: Bursting Galaxies, Sogetsu Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Sho Art Gallery, Fukushima, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Athens, Osaka, Japan
1991 Kusama’s Collage 1953-86, Nabis Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Art Gallery K2, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Media of Modern Art Contemporary (MOMA Contemporary), Fukuoka, Japan
Performance Self-Obliteration Tokyo Art Expo 1991, Pre-Event, Ginza Sony Build International Trade Center at Harumi, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, YU Contemporary Art, Kanagawa, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Vinci, Gunma, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Bunkamura Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Kura, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama: Paintings • Prints • Objects, Oka Shorin, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Lamia, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, YU Contemporary Art, Kanagawa, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Ashibi-sha, Saitama, Japan
1990 Yayoi Kusama, Shinon Nishiwaki Gallery, Kanagawa, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Kura, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Fine Art Hiiragi, Kagoshima, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Kyouni Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Chikugo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Kyouni Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Kosai, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective, Center of International Contemporary Arts, New York, NY
In Context: Yayoi Kusama, Soul Burning Flashes, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK
Yayoi Kusama, Bunkamura Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1989 Yayoi Kusama: Recent Prints, Objects, Paintings, Gallery Ikeda Art, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Kura, Nagano, Japan
1988 Yayoi Kusama: Soul Burning Flashes, Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama Bunkamura Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Kura, Nagano, Japan
1987 Yayoi Kusama, Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Fukuoka, Japan
1986 Prints by Yayoi Kusama, Tamagawa Takashimaya Department Store, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Musée Municipal, Dôle, France
Infinity ¥ Explosion, Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Nabis Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Galerie Christian Chenau, Paris, France
1985 Performance: Flower of Basara, Kuhonbutsu Joshin-ji Temple, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Missoni Boutique at Yurakucho-Marion Seibu, Tokyo, Japan
1984 Yayoi Kusama Gallery Stella, Fukouka, Japan
Kusama’s Self-Obliteration, Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1983 Yayoi Kusama, Tubaki Gallery, Chiba, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Supplement Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Polka Dots Obliteration, Video Gallery Scan, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama: 1950-1970, Internationale Galerij Ornis, The Hague, The Netherlands
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Kura, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama: Prints and Drawings, Gallery Do ra pe, Kobe, Japan
1982 Exhibition of Yayoi Kusama, Box Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Yayoi Kusama and Obsession, Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Box Art by Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Kumo, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Box Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Manu, Akita, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Orient Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Galleria d’Arte del Naviglio, Milan, Italy
1981 Yayoi Kusama, Central Gallery, Chiba, Japan
The Puzzle Art of Yayoi Kusama, Shibuya Seibu Department Store, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Gallery Kumo, Tokyo, Japan
1980 Yayoi Kusama, Toho Gallery, Osaka, Japan
Unknown Works by Yayoi Kusama: The Flash That Burns Grass, American Center, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama Soaring from the Dark and Bright Swamp, Nagano Tokyu Department Store, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama: Infinity and Repetition of Nets and Polka Dots, Gallery Toshin, Tokyo, Japan
1979 Yayoi Kusama Exhibition, Chungeki Art Salon, Matsumoto, Japan
Yayoi Kusama: Exhibition of New Works, Inoue Fourth Floor Gallery, Matsumoto, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Matsumoto Wall of Commerce and Industry Building, Nagano, Japan
1977 Yayoi Kusama; Collages, Gallery Nikko, Tokyo, Japan
1976 Yayoi Kusama: Obsessional Art, a Requiem for Death and Life, Osaka Formes Gallery, Osaka, Japan
1968 The Netherlands; Internationale Galerij Orez, The Hague, The Netherlands
Yayoi Kusama, Galerie Lichter, Frankfurt, Germany
1966
Yayoi Kusama: Driving Image Show, Galleria d’Arte del Naviglio, Milan, Italy; Galerie M. E. Thelen, Essen, West Germany
1965 Chrysler Museum, Provincetown, MA
Yayoi Kusama, Internationale Galerij Orez, The Hague, The Netherlands
1964 Kusama: Driving Image Show, Castellane Gallery, New York, NY
One Thousand Boats Show – Kusama, Gertrude Stein Gallery, New York, NY
1962 Yayoi Kusama, Robert Hanamura Gallery, Chicago, IL
1961 Yayoi Kusama: Watercolors, Gres Gallery, Washington, DC
1960 Yayoi Kusama, Gres Gallery, Washington, DC
1959 Yayoi Kusama, Brata Gallery, New York, NY
Recent Paintings by Yayoi Kusama, Nova Gallery, Boston, MA
1957 Yayoi Kusama, Zoe Dusanne Gallery, Seattle, WA
1955 Yayoi Kusama, Takemiya Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Yayoi Kusama, Kyuryudo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1954 Mimatsu Shobo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Eight Japanese Women Artists, Yoseido Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Shirokiya Department Store, Tokyo, Japan
1952 First Community Center, Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan
■ Selected Group Exhibitions
2013 Dynamo: Un Siecle de lumiere et de mouvement dans l’art 1913-2013/A Century of light and movement in art 1913-2013, Grand Palais, Paris, France
Cinematic Visions: Painting at the Edge of Reality, Victoria Miro, London, England
Yayoi Kusama, David Zwirner, New York, USA
2012 Drawings from the mid-50s – D’Amelio Terras, New York, USA
Yayoi Kusama, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
Yayoi Kusama, Tate Modern, London, England
Yayoi Kusama, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina, Sofia, Bulgaria; Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Tate Modern, London, England; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
2011 Yayol Kusama: Heaven and Earth, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, USA
Yayoi Kusama, Gagosian Gallery, Rome, Italy
Yayoi Kusama, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
Yayoi Kusama, Victoria Miro Gallery, London, England
Yayoi Kusama’s Body festival in 60’s – Watari-Um, Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
2010 Minimalism & Conceptualism, Jason Rulnick, New York, NY
2008 Sotto Voce, Yvon Lambert, New York, NY
The Masked Portrait: Aspects of Japanese Contemporary Art 1949-Present, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY
2007 Beautiful New World: Contemporary Visual Culture from Japan, Long March Project, “798” Dashanzi Art District, Beijing, China
Rose Art: Works from the Permanent Collection, The Rose Art Museum, Massachusetts
NAOSHIMA STANDARD 2, Benesse Art Site Naoshima, Kagawa, Japan
2005 Gallery Sekiryu, Nagano, Japan
2004 KUSAMATRIX, Art Park Museum of Contemporary Art, Sapporo Art Park, Hokkaido, Japan
2003 Paintings, MOMA Contemporary, Fukuoka, Japan
2000 Yayoi Kusama Early Drawings, from the Collection of Richard Castellane, The Art Museum, Princeton University, NJ; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL; Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, Canada; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana, IL; Yayoi Kusama, Le consortium, Dijon, France; Maison de la culture du Japon, Paris, France;
1998 Cage Painting Women 1967-1970, MOMA Contemporary, Fukuoka, Japan
Self Obliteration, MOMA Contemporary, Fukuoka, Japan
1993 Yayoi Kusama, The 45th Venice Biennale, Japanese Pavillion, Venice, Italy
1991 Yayoi Kusama, Tokyo Art Expo 1991, Fuji Television Gallery Booth, The Tokyo Between Heaven and Earth, Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1988 Hakone Open Air Museum, Kanagawa, Japan
1969 Happening, Iwaibashi Park, Tokyo, Japan
Nude Happening, Before the Imperial Palace, Tokyo, Japan
Body Painting Happening, Bungei Shunju Company, Tokyo, Japan
Bust Out Happening, Sheepsmeadow, Central Park, New York, NY
Happening, Blue Dome discotheque, New York, NY
Grand Orgy to Awaken the Dead Happening, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Kusama Fashions Company, Establishes, New York, NY
1968 Nude performance at the discotheque, Electric Circus, New York, NY
Love in Festival, Central Park, New York, NY
Weekly Flesh-In, Body-painting stage, Nirvana Headshop, New York, NY
Naked Demonstration/Anatomic Explosion Happening, Wall Street, New York, NY
Body Painting Happening, Avanti Galleries, New York, NY
Homosexual Wedding Happening, Church of Self-Obliteration, New York, NY
Nude Happening, the Allan Burke Show, New York, NY
Naked Happenings, Fillmore East, New York, NY
Exhibition of works by Yayoi Kusama from 1963 to 1965, Galerie Mickery, Loenersloot, Mona Lisa Happening, Kusama’s Studio, New York, NY
The Horse by Polka Dots Happening, Central Park, New York, NY
Galleria d’Arte del Naviglio, Milan, Italy
1967 Serielle Formationen, Studio Galerie, Frankfurt, West Germany
Horse Play, Happening ,Inter-Arts Festival, Washington Square Park, New York, NY
Horse Play, Self Obliteration by Kusama: An Audio-Visual-Light Performance Happening, Woodstock, NY
Kusama Tea Dancers Happening, Electric Circus, New York, NY
Body-Painting Party Happening, Cheetah Club, New York, NY
Love Room, Internationale Galerij Orez, The Hague, The Netherlands
Body Festival Happening, Chrysler Art Museum, Provincetown, MA
1966 Kusama’s Peep Show: Endless Love Show, Castellane Gallery, New York, NY
Nova Gallery, Boston, MA
1965 Floor Show, Castellane Gallery, New York, NY
1963 Driving Image, Castellane Gallery, New York, NY
1961 Recent Painting: Yayoi Kusama, Stephen Radich Gallery, New York, NY