6 Self-Care Lessons From The World's Most Expensive Woman Artist

If you don't know artist Yayoi Kusama by name, you definitely know her from Instagram.

Famous for her infinity rooms comprised of mirrors and mesmerizing installations—AKA #selfiecentral—Kusama is 88 years old and as prolific as they come. Her latest concurrent exhibitions, "The Festival of Life" and "Infinity Nets," are not so much shows as they are collective experiences,  featuring multiple infinity rooms and 66 supplementary paintings, at the David Zwirner Gallery in New York City. (This is actually her second solo show at David Zwirner, the first in 2013.)

Kusama's no newb, however. Since her career began in the 1950s, her work has become increasingly more valuable and sought-after overtime. She's the world's most expensive woman artist, with recent pieces selling for $7.1 million. And, at a glance, success has certainly characterized the majority of Kusama's career. When she moved to New York City in 1957, she quickly made waves in the contemporary art scene, befriending some of the greats, like Georgia O'Keeffe and Donald Judd. She has also worked with the likes of Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton, and her exhibitions have traveled worldwide, with appearances in renowned galleries and institutions like the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of Modern Art and the Tate Modern.

Her personal life and relationship to work, however, have been largely unconventional. In the beginning stages of her career, Kusama actually left her blossoming ascent into the New York art world and relocated to Japan due to ill health and exhaustion. She then attempted to open her own art-dealing business, which folded, and eventually checked herself into an institution for the mentally ill in 1977. Since, she has been living at the hospital by choice, prolifically producing work out of her permanent studio over the last forty years.

Kusama's story is one of resilience—and there's a lot to learn from her decision-making and dedication to self-care. If you're feeling a little burnt out and uninspired, these six stories from Kusama's career may just carry you into the New Year and remind you to take care of your best asset (you!):

1.) Normalize rejection. It's OK—and it seriously happens to everyone.

Throughout her career, Kusama was the queen of bold moves. She organized public, sexually charged performance art, experimented with her own mediums and consistently thrust the contemporary, conservative art world into uncomfortable territory. In 1966, she was actually physically removed from her installation at the 33rd Venice Biennale for selling portions of the exhibited work throughout the opening reception. She was attempting to critique the relationship between art and consumerism—the message fell on deaf, powerful ears.

Despite this incident, she was invited back to the Venice Biennale to create the exhibition's pavilion in 1993. The debut of this pumpkin-centered infinity room actually re-ignited her career.

2.) Say "no" to things you hate.

In her early years, Kusama formally studied art at Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts. She reportedly found this experience dull, uninspiring and borderline unbearable. From this frustration, she took an interest in Western modern art, and many say this rejection of traditional schooling motivated her to move to New York City and launch her contemporary career.

3.) Invest in your own wellbeing. Busy is not always better.

Although now the richest woman artist in the world, Kusama's initial work was not profitable. She spent much of her time hospitalized from overwork and exhaustion in the early- to late-1960s, eventually checking into the Seiwa Hospital for the Mentally Ill in 1977.

4.) Explore methods and approaches to work and find things that actually work for you.

Her institutionalization surprisingly did not stifle her creativity or productivity. She now permanently resides at Seiwa, and since her forced (and now willful) hospitalization, Kusama has become increasingly more prolific and her artwork ever the more valuable. She has accepted this new way of life and incorporated it into her practice. “It doesn't matter at all for me that I work in hospital or anywhere with limited space. Every day, I'm creating new works with all my might," Kusama said in an interview with The Huffington Post.

5.) Appreciate your mentors. Appreciate your tribe.

Kusama's personal and professional friendships have sustained her throughout the tough years. Fellow artist Georgia O'Keeffe often served as Kusama's business adviser and even persuaded her own art dealer to purchase some of Kusama's works when the painter saw a financial rough patch. Some of Kusama's best reviews and starting critiques also came from friends in the art business, like minimalist Donald Judd and one of her long-time companions artist Joseph Cornell.

6.) Fall in love with the process. Conventional success, fame and money will not make your work more exciting, pleasurable or meaningful.

Kusama continually credits her daily art practice as a source of sanity and stability, referring to the actual work itself as medicinal and prescriptive. She wrote in her autobiography: “I fight pain, anxiety and fear every day, and the only method I have found that relieves my illness is to keep creating art."