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In the early sixties, Ms. Kasuma covered everyday objects, say sofas, ladders and shoes in floppy white penises.
Her inspiration came from her father being a cheating creep and obviously her mom’s lack of parenting skills. “When I was a child, my father had lovers and I experienced seeing him. My mother sent me to spy on him.” People expect her to be some sort of nymphomaniac, but in fact after seeing her father get busy, she was chaste for years.
One Thousand Boats Show was one of the first pieces covered in white floppy dicks. A penis-covered rowing boat cast adrift in a dark room. Over 30 years later, her 1994 work Violet Obsession is very similar. It’s also a boat, but this time you can't really see the outlines of the rowing boat. Its easy to recognize the shape though. It also has oars...that kind of gives it away. But, more importantly, this piece is covered in bright neon purple penises! The color violet is special to Kusama. In her autobiography she remembers sitting among a bed of violets. “One day, I suddenly looked up to find that each and every violet had its own individual, human-like facial expression, and to my astonishment they were all talking to me.” Did I tell you she has been living in a mental institution since the mid '70’s?
Anyway, I wish she would make actual floating boats, it would be quite the trippy experience to take one of these on the water. Imagine floating around in a neon penis covered boat at night. Almost as crazy as flowers talking to you...