08/27/2026
It’s been a tough week for loss of some amazingly influential artists. The art world has lost another icon. 🖤 Yayoi Kusama has died at the age of 97.
For the last decade, I’ve had the incredible privilege of sharing her work with young artists in our studio- not simply as an artist from a textbook, but as a living, practicing contemporary artist whose story was still being written.
There has always been something powerful about telling students, “She’s still making art.” ❤️
And she was! Kusama continued creating until the final days of her life (according to her studio’s release this morning)
Her dots, pumpkins, infinity rooms, repetition, color, and unmistakable way of seeing the world has inspired countless artists, including so many young ones here at McHarper Manor.
Her story may be complete now, but her influence certainly isn’t. Yayoi Kusama and her work will be remembered, taught, created from, and celebrated in our studio forever. ❤️
BUT- Cincinnati has an extraordinary opportunity to experience her work in person right now.
Visit her work All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins @ The Cincinnati Art Museum. On view through October 18th
If you have the opportunity, go stand inside her world for a moment. Let yourself really experience it. Let your kids experience it. Artists like Kusama remind us just how enormous a single person’s imagination can become. A wonderful gift she gave us.
1929–2026. Rest in color, Yayoi. 🔴🟡⚫️
