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Yayoi Kusama with recent works.
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“Yayoi
Kusama: Infinity Mirrors" was on view at the High Museum of Art from Nov. 18,
2018 through Feb. 17, 2019, and featured numerous new works by the 89-year-old
artist, who is regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th
century, and is still very active in her Tokyo studio. New works included
vibrantly colored paintings and the recently completed infinity room “All the
Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins” (2016), which featured dozens of Kusama’s
signature bright-yellow, dotted pumpkin sculptures.
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Cameras were not permitted inside of
"All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins" room. |
Spanning
the entire second floor of the High’s Wieland Pavilion, the exhibition allowed
visitors to take a once-in-a-lifetime journey through more than 60 years of
Kusama’s creative genius.
“Yayoi
Kusama: Infinity Mirrors” began with the artist’s original landmark
installation, “Infinity Mirror Room—Phalli’s Field” (1965/2016), featuring a
vast expanse of red-spotted white tubers in a room lined with mirrors, which
create a dazzling illusion of infinite space.
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| "Phalli’s Field" |
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| "Phalli’s Field" |
The
exhibition also included “Infinity Mirrored Room—Love Forever” (1966/1994), a
hexagonal chamber into which viewers peered from the outside to see colored
flashing lights that reflect endlessly from ceiling to floor. The work is a
re-creation of Kusama’s legendary 1966 mirror room “Kusama’s Peep Show” (or
“Endless Love Show”), in which the artist staged group performances in her
studio.
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| “Infinity Mirrored Room—Love Forever” |
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| “Infinity Mirrored Room—Love Forever” |
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| “Infinity Mirrored Room—Love Forever” |
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“Infinity Mirrored Room—Love Forever”
Bonnie Morét Photography Self Portrait |
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| “Infinity Mirrored Room—Love Forever” |
Kusama’s
signature bold polka dots was featured in “Dots Obsession—Love Transformed into
Dots” (2007), a domed mirror room surrounded by inflatables suspended from the
ceiling.
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| “Dots Obsession—Love Transformed into Dots” |
A
selection of more than 60 paintings, sculptures and works on paper, including
many of Kusama’s infrequently shown collages, which she made after returning to
Japan following a stay in New York City from 1957 to 1973, were also on
display. These works trace the artist’s trajectory from her early surrealist
works on paper, “Infinity Net” paintings, and “Accumulation” assemblages to
recent paintings and soft sculptures, which highlight recurring themes of
nature and fantasy, utopia and dystopia, unity and isolation, obsession and
detachment, and life and death.
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| “Infinity Net” paintings and “Accumulation” assemblages. |
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| “Infinity Net” paintings. |
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| “Accumulation” assemblages. |
The
exhibition concluded with Kusama’s iconic participatory installation “The
Obliteration Room” (2002), an all-white replica of a traditional domestic
setting. Upon entering, visitors were invited to cover every surface of the
furnished gallery with multicolored polka dot stickers to gradually engulf the
entire space in color.
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| “The Obliteration Room” |
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| “The Obliteration Room” |
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| “The Obliteration Room” |
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Bonnie Morét Photography's sticker art in the
“The Obliteration Room” |
Prior
to its presentation at the High, “Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors” was on view
at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Feb. 23–May 14, 2017); Seattle
Art Museum (June 30–Sept. 10, 2017); The Broad, Los Angeles (Oct. 21, 2017–Jan.
10, 2018); Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (March 3–May 27, 2018); and
Cleveland Museum of Art (July 9–Sept. 30, 2018).
Addition highlights
below:
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| Yayoi Kusama |
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| Yayoi Kusama |
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| See installation below. |
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| See description above. |
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| Quote by Yayoi Kusama. |
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| "Life (Repetitive Vision)" |
For
more information about the High, visit www.high.org.
Photography by www.bonniemoret.com.
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