Kusama: A Graphic Biography 

by Elisa Macellari. Laurence King Publishing (September 15, 2020)

From rural Japan to international icon - Yayoi Kusama has spent her remarkable life immersed in her art.

Follow her incredible journey in this vivid graphic biography which details her bold departure from Japan as a young artist, her embrace of the buzzing New York art scene in the 1960s, and her eventual return home and rise to twenty-first-century super-fame.

Editorial Reviews

"Macellari stylishly depicts Kusama's life and various works, including her famed orgies and nude performance art happenings, and she subtly and cleverly evokes the evolution of Kusama's iconic dots throughout. Art lovers who want their biographies with a heavy dose of the visual will appreciate this." Booklist

"Macellari's splendid biography of Yayoi Kusama brings the artist's neurotic obsessions to life...Macellari's comics interpret and mirror Kusama's art in a way that honors it but doesn't imitate it. This satisfying glimpse into Kusama's world reveals a place both tidy and trippy." Publishers Weekly

"The distillation of Kusama's long, full, and atypical life to a trim, fast-flowing graphic novel is admirable. The text draws from multiple sources, listed at the book's end; chief among them is Kusama's autobiography. Kusama: A Graphic Biography is a wonderful introduction to a gifted artist. Even those familiar with her work will gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the troubled imagination from which it spawned." Foreword Reviews

About the Author

Elisa Macellari is a Thai-Italian illustrator. Her clients include The New York Times, Corriere della Sera, Mondadori, Feltrinelli, and Nobrow Press. Her first graphic novel, Papaya Salad (2018), has been published in Italian, French, and Spanish.

Italian version: "Kusama, ossessioni, amori e arte" published by Centauria, Jun 2020

English version: "Kusama, A Graphic Biography" published by Laurence King, Sep 2020

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1786277166/ref=cm_sw_r_em_api_i_mcmyFb5DXJ6TC