Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama dies at 97

Open this photo in gallery:FILE PHOTO: Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama speaks to journalists at her studio in Tokyo, Japan September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/File PhotoToru Hanai/ReutersJapanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama, who transformed hallucinations into art and was known for her obsessive dot-covered paintings and pumpkin motifs, has died at the age of 97.The announcement made on her official website said she died on August 14 but did not give a cause of death.Frustrated with the confining nature of Japanese society, Kusama left for New York at 27, where she quickly made a name for herself with her paintings, inspired by hallucinations of flashing lights, dots and flowers she had seen since childhood.She also wrote, took part in anti-war activities during the 1960s, and reportedly influenced artists such as Andy Warhol.Kusama, who was candid about her mental health struggles, said New York gave her neuroses. Around 1977, a few years after returning to Japan, she voluntarily entered a mental hospital and lived there for decades, being driven to her nearby studio each morning.“I still see hallucinations even now,” Kusama said in 2017.“Dots come flying everywhere — on my dress, the floor, things I’m carrying, throughout the house, the ceiling. And I paint them.”