与知名艺术家合作一直以来都是LV乐此不疲的事。新近的消息是，下一个LV的合作艺术家将是“怪婆婆”草间弥生。而与婆婆搭档设计的则是曾在2006年拜访过其工作室的知名设计师马克-雅各布，这么看来，LV这一世界上最大的奢侈品牌之一对日本市场很是看好。

草间弥生将和雅克布合作一系列LV的产品，包括皮革制品、高级成衣、饰品、鞋子、手表以及珠宝。这一项目预计明年7月初旬进行首次发布，届时将会为这次合作的展示特别设计橱窗装置。

已然开始的2012真可谓草间弥生的大年份。1月9日是草间弥生在巴黎蓬皮杜中心回顾展的最后一天，随后这一展览将于2月9日至6月5日在伦敦的泰特现代美术馆展出。接着，7月12日至9月30日期间纽约的惠特尼美术馆将继续这一展览。值得一提的是，泰特现代以及惠特尼的展览都是由LV赞助的。

灿烂的酒红色假发、圆点图案短上衣这是这位多媒体艺术家面对公众的标志性形象，从她的作品中可以看到，她企图呈现的是一种自传式的、深入心理的、性取向的内容；草间所用的创作手法则有绘画、软雕塑、行动艺术与装置艺术等。最为著名的是她的波点画、生殖器索引、裸体行为艺术片段以及包括1989年“结伴自杀Double Suicide at Skuragazuka”在内的几部小说。高古轩画廊自2007年起为其办过9个展览。

尽管种种成功总是如影随形，比如她的一幅“无限的网”系列作品之一，1959年的“素描2号”在2008年佳士得拍出了510万美元，这开创了在世女性艺术家作品最高价，草间弥生长久以来还得持续地与精神病进行抗争。1977年起，她把她每天利用空闲时间来画画、做雕塑以及装置的工作室安在新宿精神病疗养院旁边。

草间弥生，作为一位颇负盛名的女权主义者，也是路易-威登首位进行系列产品合作的女性艺术家。自1977年起雅克布就开始和很多的艺术家就这一品牌展开合作，包括理查德-普林斯、已故的斯蒂芬-斯普劳斯以及村上隆。


Yayoi Kusama

Louis Vuitton creative director Marc Jacobs has tapped the legendary Japanese polka-dot painter Yayoi Kusama as the company's latest artist collaborator, most likely with an eye toward the Japanese market, one of the world's largest for luxury goods.

Kusama worked with Jacobs (who visited her studio in Japan in 2006) on a line of Louis Vuitton products, including leather goods, ready-to-wear, accessories, shoes, watches, and jewelry, reports WWD. The items are scheduled to premiere at Louis Vuitton stores in early July, with window installations specially designed to mark the collaboration.

This year will be a big one for the 82-year-old Kusama. January 9 is the last day of a Centre Pompidou retrospective in Paris, which goes on view from February 9 to June 5 at the Tate Modern in London. From there, the survey will head to the Whitney in New York, where it will remain from July 12 to September 30. Both the Tate Modern and Whitney shows are sponsored by Louis Vuitton.

The multimedia artist, whose electric-hued wigs and bangs define her look, is known for her polka dots, phallic references (she covered ladders, chairs, and shoes with such protrusions in the ‘60s), nude performance pieces, and several novels, including “Double Suicide at Skuragazuka” (1989). Gagosian Gallery has shown her work in nine exhibitions since 2007.

Although she's had a great deal of success (one of her "Infinity Net" works, the 1959 drawing "No. 2," briefly held the record for highest price bid on the work of a living female artist when it was auctioned at Christie's in 2008 for $5.1 million), Kusama has long struggled with mental illness. Since 1977 she has remained volutarily institutionalized at a psychiatric facility, the Seiwa Hospital in Tokyo, located near her studio, where she spends her free time creating paintings, sculptures, and installations.

Kusama, a celebrated feminist, is the first female artist to collaborate on a line of products for Louis Vuitton. Jacobs has collaborated with a number of artists since his start at the brand in 1997, including Richard Prince, the late Stephen Sprouse (who had an exhibition at Deitch Projects during the reissue of his Louis Vuitton collaboration in 2009), and Takashi Murakami, who injected the company’s signature quatrefoil and monogram pattern with bright colors, friendly flowers, and cartoon eyeballs. The Murakami partnership was a huge success in 2003.