Born 1929 in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, Kusama Yayoi studied Nihon-ga (Japanese-style painting) at Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts, where she began producing work in a wide range of media. She moved to the United States in 1957, attracting attention for her vast "all-over" net paintings that featured repetitive net patterns in a single color against a monochrome background. She then went on to become a pioneer of pop art and environmental installations in soft sculptures and clothes featuring sexual and food-based imagery and installations that contained walls covered in rhythmical patterns. Coming out of her involvement with the anti-war movement, Kusama continued to send out a message of social transformation with fashion shows and happenings in which she painted dots on naked men and women. She continued to work following her return to Japan in 1973 and experimented with new forms of expression, publishing, in 1978, a novel and later a volume of poetry. Today Kusama enjoys an international reputation and has held exhibitions at Center for International Contemporary Arts, New York (1989), Museum of Modern Art, New York (1998), Venice Biennale (1993) and in London, Paris and Seoul. Recently, Kusama has participated in Lyon Biennale 2003 and The Cultural Captial of Europe, Lille 2004 (on view until 22 Feb, 2004). Kusama Yayoi official site:http://www.yayoi-kusama.jp/