Yayoi Kusama is an artist that attracts more public. But galleries and museums still prefer men

Original publication in Exibart – A fact is the fame of artist measured by the audience that attracts, an other is the issue of preference of galleries and museums. A study reveals that in USA, in six years, around 73 per cent of museums and galleries showed works of plastic artists of male gender. But to counterbalance the data, in the other end the japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is public’s favorite. Male artists of art institution

The entire article published in Exibart:

“A survey about the number of visitors in museums in 2014 showed the most popular artist in the world: Yayoi Kusama. The japanese artist who since 1977 lives by her choice in a psychiatric institute in Tokyo, attracted with her art, around 2 million people moving around the Americas, Central and South, in retrospective that included one of her most famous artwork, the suggestive installation, Infinity Mirror Room. Her other exhibition is actually in Taiwan to proceed later to New Delhi and demonstrates how her figure has a fundamental role in pop art as in global vanguard. 

The more remarkable is the fact of a woman conquer the first place, whereas another survey revealed 73 per cent of American galleries in last six years had male artists as protagonists. The success of Kusama seems, intead, to demonstrate the public does not tend to prefer, in fact, male art, the opposite. Moreover, the second personal exhibition of more succes salways considering  the last six years, has been the Marina Abramovic, in New York MoMa, which attracted each day around 7000 visitors a day.

Third place went to the sculptor Richard Serra, who in 2007 attracted a day in MoMa around 8,500 people, but fourth position goes again to a woman, Swiss Pipilotti Rist with her installation al MoMa (the museum hosted 17 of the 20 most successful exhibition), which attracted more than 6000 spectators a day. At the end, the public rewards the woman, but galleries and museums still prefer men artists. There will come the time to reverse the tendency?”

Critical Look

Certainly Giula, the trend is changing and the public will be the one to speak, not art institutions. They should not follow steps dictated by web commands that already dominates art market. No more formalized institution – halls, galleries, museums, cultural spaces – will point the direction for plastic artists. The galleries and museums, among other places, are already adjusting to trend set by online universe.

The thesis www.parana.e-mail.art.br  shows the voracious speed with changes occured in last 9 years. In 2006, plastic artists in Parana refused to use internet technology and kept themselves remained to change, only sometimes the most visionares used particular e-mails to start interacting with their public. The change with social media was the peak for artist conquer his freedom and not be tied to dictates established by galleries and museums. But the walk to transformation and democracy in art has only started.