Japanese-born artist Yayoi Kusama made a name for herself in the avant-garde movement of the 1960s. In addition to her now-iconic paintings, which frequently employ repeating patterns of circles and dots, she has also produced mixed-media works, performance art and more.

In Kusama: The Graphic Novel, cartoonist Elisa Macellari explores the tumultuous beginnings of Kusama's art career, as well as the years after she returned to Japan, all through the stylistic lens of Kusama's body of work. This book is the third in Laurence King Publishing's Graphic Lives series, which examines the lives of legendary artists.

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Macellari's fascination with Kusama shines through in the artistic style she employs, which is at turns experimental and simplistic. She uses a limited color palette throughout, which helps significant moments -- like Kusama's correspondence with Georgia O'Keefe, which inspired her to leave Japan and move to New York City -- stand out because they break from that norm.

Likewise, moments of intense emotion are presented through shades of purple, which is significant against a backdrop of mostly white, orange, red and blue. Macellari doesn't shy away from Kusama's mental illness, which is important. Kusama, now 91, describes her work and process as "self-obliteration": She aims to lose herself in her work in order to save herself, which she calls "art-medicine." Macellari attempts to do the same in her graphic novel, drawing Kusama being swallowed up by her work in several panels and ending with a dramatic visual of Kusama walking into the oblivion of her polka-dotted art.

In addition to pulling actual quotes to narrate Kusama: The Graphic Novel, Macellari explains the artist's early years in Japan -- especially her mother's disapproval -- with brief, punctual bits of dialogue and biographical exposition. The main focus here is the artwork, which is appropriate, especially since Kusama is so intent on her art being the thing that speaks for her.

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The book is chronological as it follows Kusama from her youth, to her 20 years of living and making art in New York City, to her return to Japan, which results in her being kept in the country so her doctor can observe her in the event of a nervous breakdown. Although the graphic novel spends very little time detailing this aspect of her career, it does deal with the fact that Kusama and her work were essentially forgotten for decades -- until someone in the U.S. art world recalled her importance and printed a retrospective in 1989.

Perhaps the best element of this graphic biography is Macellari's examination of Kusama's political work and performance art, which isn't nearly as well-known as her paintings and mixed-media work. When she was at the height of her career, Kusama experimented a ton and arguably outclassed Andy Warhol in the realm of pop art.

Kusama: The Graphic Novel is sometimes scant on details of Kusama's personal life, but that actually makes it work better, on the whole. This book is worth picking up not just for Macellari's excellent work, but for its strong examination of a living legend and her incredible artistic career.

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