Style Imitating Art: “Pumpkin!”

Style Imitating Art…

Welcome to Style Imitating Art which comes from Salazar, Shelbee, and me. You can think of this series as fashion meets art museum! SIA challenges people to find inspiration in different art works, create looks based upon that art work, and share them with the curator for that piece. Salazar is this week’s curator with a fabulous sculpture. I love this sculpture and would love to see it. I hope you enjoy this post, the information, and my interpretation.

How it works…

Every other Monday one of us selects an inspiration piece of art and posts the image on their blog. We then invite others to interpret that art work through their style. The following Monday, we share our outfits. The curator shares submissions the following Wednesday on her blog. Salazar chose this week’s art work for this round of Style Imitating Art. If you’d like, you can read why she chose it here. Please send your photo Salazar by Tuesday, May 20th, 2025 by 10 pm EST. Style Imitating Art is an interesting way to inspire your outfits. You can see a few of my looks here, here, here, and here.

About the artist…

Yayoi Kusama was born on March 22, 1929 in Matsumoto, Nagano.  Her family owned a plant nursery and seed farm.  When she was in elementary school, Kusama began drawing pictures of pumpkins.  Pumpkins (or kabocha as they would have been known in Japan) were one of the plants the family grew. Kusama’s childhood just makes me sad.  Her mother didn’t approve of her creativity.  In fact, young Yayoi would finish whatever she was working on as quickly as possible, then hide it so her mother wouldn’t take it away from her.  Including being physically abusive, her mother, in my opinion, was also mentally abusive as she would send the young girl out to spy on her own father.  Her dad was not particularly faithful and had extramarital affairs.  Kids are just not prepared for this kind of activity, then or now.  Yayoi would see her dad and his lovers engaged in sex.  This early trauma added to her hallucinations are probably the origins of her artistic style. 

A little more…

At ten years old, Kusama began experiencing hallucinations.  She described them as “flashes of light, auras, or dense fields of dots”.  At times, the hallucinations would be flowers which spoke to Kusama.  She described them as “coming to life, multiplying, and engulfing or expunging her, a process which she has carried into her artistic career and which she calls “self-obliteration (source).”  In addition to the hallucinations, a riverbed near her family’s home was covered with smooth white stones which she said became the lifelong fascination with polka dots. 

Even more…

Kusama trained at the Kyoto City University of Arts for a year.  She trained in the traditional Japanese painting style, nihonga.  But, inspired by American Abstract Impressionism, she moved to New York City in 1958.  Kusama became a part of the New York avant-garde in the 1950s as well as the Pop Art movement in the 1960s.  One of her good friends, Andy Warhol, “borrowed” her idea of wallpapering the gallery which held her soft sculpture of a rowboat.  Kusama became heavily involved in the hippie counterculture of the late 1960s as she organized several happenings featuring naked people upon whom she’d painted polka dots. 

Here are two videos about Kusama.  Trigger warning: they include information regarding sexual abuse as well as being pretty much NSFW!  Kusama’s soft sculptures feature lots of the male anatomy, but, honestly, they really just look like tubes to me.  Anyway, that’s part of the warning!

A skosh more…

Yayoi Kusama created art in various milieu…sculpture, installation, painting, performance, video art, fashion, poetry, fiction, and other arts.  The various movements in which she has been involved as an artist include feminism, minimalism, surrealism, art brut, pop art, and abstract expressionism.  Her art definitely comes from her mental health struggles as well as her childhood which involved that abuse and WWII.  After her return to Japan, Kusama had to rebuild her art career.  In 1977, recognizing she needed help, Kusama checked into a mental health facility where she has lived ever since.  She has said art is one way to express her mental problems.  “’I fight pain, anxiety, and fear every day, and the only method I have found that relieved my illness is to keep creating art’, she told an interviewer in 2012. ‘I followed the thread of art and somehow discovered a path that would allow me to live (source).’”  She has an art studio right across the street, complete with her art supplies and various assistants. 

The art work…

Pumpkin can be found on “Naoshima Island in Japan, an island best known for its contemporary art museums,” says Salazar.  The photo taken with Kusama beside the pumpkin was taken in September 1994 at the Open Air ’94 “Out of Bounds” – Contemporary Art in the Seascape exhibition’s opening ceremony.   Pumpkin was designed for this specific space.  It’s on an old pier jutting out into the sea.  The pier and Pumpkin are surrounded by the blue ocean and the green trees.  With its vivid yellow color, Pumpkin definitely catches your eye.  Knowing it would be displayed outside, the sculpture was designed accordingly. 

Unfortunately, the sculpture was damaged by Typhoon Lupit in August of 2021.  Benesse Art Site Naoshima announced Pumpkin had been recreated and was exhibited at the pier the same as the original Pumpkin.  The exhibit re-opened on October 4^th, 2022.  The sculpture is yellow and painted with black polka dots.  It is approximately 79 inches (2 meters) tall and 98 inches (2.5 meters) wide.  It is made of fiber-reinforced plastic.  When it was rebuilt, the colors, size, and materials were the same.  It was, however, made thicker and heavier so it would survive wind and rain.

My interpretation…

I commented to a few people that I had a plan for this art. I kinda stuck to that, but I had to make some adjustments. I had thought this top buttoned up the front all the way since it doesn’t button at all! It’s from Banana Republic, and I love the color and the cutwork.  I planned to wear it open over my Clara Sunwoo jumpsuit (seen here). I probably could have still worn it with the jumpsuit. I decided to pivot, however, and chose my Clara Sunwoo Signature Side Slit Ankle Pant. I then added a green scarf with polka dots as a nod to the vines pumpkins grow from as well as…well, polka dots! Many, many years ago, I had a black sweater with sequined pumpkins all over it. I wore it when I taught during the Halloween season. But, I donated it when I retired. And, that would be all I had with pumpkins on it!

The Lewk!

These are the Shay sandals from Miz Mooz. They are really comfortable, but I’m having some problems with a recalcitrant little toe. It doesn’t like these sandals right now. But, once I get that little booger in line, we’ll be good. I recently bought these earrings and the matching necklace from J Jill. I actually thought I’d bought the bracelet, too. I was combing through everything, trying to find it. I finally looked up my account and found out I hadn’t bought it. Thank goodness because it was nowhere to be found! I put the scarf in the photos because just the sandals and the earrings looked a little bare! I hope you noticed I bookended my look as well as imitating the vines of the pumpkin plant.

Wrap it up, Marsha!

I was so excited when Salazar chose Yayoi Kusama. In 2019, the Indianapolis Museum of Art had an “infinity room” installed for a limited time! Nigel and I took our two oldest grands to see it. Unfortunately, these photos aren’t very good, but it was really cool. The room was only big enough for three people, one of whom was a museum volunteer to make sure nothing was touched. I think we had 60 seconds or so to be in there, but I think we were able to stay a little longer because there weren’t any people behind us. So, can we talk? Can you imagine your mom not wanting you to pursue your art or passion? Would you want to go into one of these “infinity rooms?” What did you think of the videos? Please leave me a comment or two, and we can talk. I promise to respond as quickly as I can.

Don’t forget…

If you want to be included in the Style Imitating Art round up, send Salazar your photo by 10:00 pm EST, Tuesday, May 20th. Photos of everyone participating will appear on her blog on Wednesday, May 21st! If you’re interested in joining us, consider all of your options…the colors, the form, the feelings they evoke! Come on, give it a try! I think you’ll love it!

Thank you!

I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for reading, commenting, subscribing or emailing! It truly means so much to me! If you’d like to follow me on Instagram, you can find me here.

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Where you can find me:

Linking up with Nancy’s Fashion Style,  Fine-Whatever, Is This Mutton, Shelbee on the Edge, Chez Mireile, Suzy Turner, and Away from the Blue as well as Deb’s World and A Fresh Cup of Coffee. I also link up with This Blonde’s Shopping Bag, Doused in Pink, I do deClaire, Mummabstylish, Style Splash and Elegantly Dressed and Stylish as well as the Senior Salon Pit Stop (Esme’s Salon) and Slices of Life. Please check out these wonderful ladies and their blogs! I also am a co-host for Ageless Style on the third Thursday of the month and Songful Style on the last Monday of the month. I co-host Traffic Jam Weekend every Thursday with Melynda, Lisa, and Sue. I also host Final Fridays on the last Friday of the month as well as 10 on the 10th on the 10th of the month! I do hope you’ll check out all of these blogs and link parties!

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