“As an obsessional artist I fear everything I see. At one time, I dreaded everything I was making.”—Kusama interviewed in BOMB magazine in 1999.
 
You may have seen some of the lovely, now-viral shots of renowned Japanese Pop/Minimalist/AbEx artist Yayoi Kusama’s Obliteration Room installation at the Brisbane Gallery of Modern Art, in which children are handed colored polka dots stickers at the museum’s entrance with which to deface a pure-white-painted living-room.

Whimsical as those images are, it’s important to remember that Kusama’s pattern-obsessed work reflects her career of art-as-therapy in response to a life marked by childhood abuse early on and mental illness throughout. As someone who’s both seen a measure of fame in New York City’s underground art scene in the ‘60s that rivaled Warhol’s, and lived in a mental institution in Japan for the past 34 years, Kusama strikes a remarkable figure. The raising of her profile in the US has been a long time coming for the 83-year-old.

Heather Lenz’s forthcoming documentary, Kusama: Princess of Polka Dots, promises to more fully flesh out the story of Japan’s most popular living artist. The film’s slated for a summer 2012 release to coincide with the arrival of a Kusama retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
 

 
After the jump: check out Kusama’s Self Obliteration, a portrait of the artist at one of her peak periods…

 
Here’s 27 minutes of vintage mosquito, cockroach and creepy-crawly insect repellent spray commercials brought to you by Japan. I have to admit I watched the entire thing and found it thoroughly enjoyable—especially the 70s commercials.
 

 
(via Nerdcore)

 
At times, Jean-Michel Basquiat looks bored with the questions asked by the interviewer, credited here as Dr. Marc H. Miller, Currator, Adjunct Proffesor of Art History at New York University. In part his response is understandable, as Miller fails to get in synch with Basquiat, or ask anything other than tick-box questions that offer no mutual connection.

According to the blurb on You Tube:

‘This interview was conducted in early 1983 in Jean-Michel Basquiat’s studio on Crosby Street in SOHO. Taped at about 3pm shortly after Jean-Michel woke up for the day, it begins slowly and picks up as the artists begins to wake.’

Okay, that as may be, Basquiat does look surly enough to have been awoken from his slumber, but part of the time he is being flip to the worst of Miller’s questions.

Also, why was the interview filmed mainly as a 2-shot? What purpose, other than self-promotion, does it serve the audience to see Miller in frame? It’s Basquiat we want to see, not some anonymous academic.

However, that said, there is fun to be had in Basquiat’s facial expressions, which often say more than his answers (someone should write a book about the significance and meanings of facial tics during TV interviews), and thirty minutes with Basquiat is still worth the price of admission.
 

 
Previously on Dangerous Minds

Jean-Michel Basquait: ‘The Radiant Child

 
Delightful video made by Joe Humpay for his girlfriend. I like the Beach Boys A LOT and I really like this video, too. I just wished he would have used the a cappella version instead, but that’s a small complaint, of course, for such goodness.
 

 
(via Testspiel.de)

 
Artist Kerry Callen is back with his animated version of Lois Lane #29, from 1961. There’s also a fun animated GIF of Nick Fury, Agent of Shield #4 at Kerry’s site!

Previously on Dangerous Minds:

Excellent Animated Comic Book Covers

(via Nerdcore)

 
Salvador Dali hosts a Surrealist party as a fund raiser for displaced European artists, at the Bali Room, Hotel Del Monte, California, in 1941. However you celebrate the arrival of the New Year, have a fabulous time, and a wonderful 2012.
 

 
With thanks to Duggie Fields
 

 
Photographer and miniature-sculptor Carrie M. Becker re-imagines what Barbie’s Dream House might look like following a painful divorce from Ken. I can’t get over the teeny tiny Wired and Nylon magazines thrown about the rooms. It’s a Dream Home nightmare!

You can view Carrie’s work here.
 

 
More after the jump…

 
If you’re an 80s kid like I am, then you might appreciate Etsy shop GrimcatProductions’ handmade NeverEnding Story tablet cover. From the description:

Customize your reader with a cover that will for sure bring back the nostalgic moments of luck dragons, noble warriors, and epic quests. These book covers are hand-crafted from high quality leather and suedes and bound with filigree and an auryn on the cover, just like the book we all know and love. These are made to fit Kindles and Nooks, and for an added cost can be done up for an iPad or a Galaxy tablet.

NeverEnding Story eReader / Tablet Covers

(via The Daily What)

 
Claude Lelouch’s poetic short film Iran was made in 1971. Shot in stunningly beautiful color, perfectly edited, and featuring a musical score by legendary French composer Francis Lai, this 17 minute masterpiece was never widely distributed, despite winning a half dozen prestigious international film awards.

Thank you Internet for giving films like Iran new life.

Click on the HD options on the Youtube channel to watch in higher resolution.
 

 
Home Movies of Man Ray and Ady Fidelin from 1938, present a simple and intimate portrait of the man behind the artist.
 

 
With thanks to Angie Lane