If you’ve never heard of her, here’s a great opportunity to get to know one of the most celebrated contemporary artists of our time, Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese artist known for her extensive use of polka dots and her infinity installations. She has been exhibiting her latest works in New York since May 11 in one of her largest gallery exhibitions to date.
“I Spend Each Day Embracing Flowers” will showcase new paintings, new sculptures crafted in her signature motifs of pumpkins and flowers, and a new Infinity Mirror Room. Presented in galleries 519, 525, and 533 West 19th Street in New York, the exhibition marks ten years since Kusama’s first solo show.
One of the most influential artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, Kusama occupies a unique position in the history of recent art. Since her early assimilation of pop art and minimalism in the 1960s, she has created a highly personal body of work that resonates with a global audience. Distinctively recognizable, her works often employ repetitive elements—such as dots. Her highly influential career spans paintings, performances, room-sized presentations, outdoor sculptural installations, literary works, films, fashion, design, and interventions in existing architectural structures.
The exhibition takes its name from three monumental flower sculptures. Since the 1950s, Kusama has repeatedly incorporated flowers and plants as motifs in her work, inspired by her fascination with the natural world. The immense flowers invite the audience to partake in a fully immersive experience that suggests the atmosphere of a lush garden. At the opposite end of the exhibition, three enormous undulating pumpkin sculptures transfigure the organic shapes reimagined by Kusama over several decades. These wall-like structures situate viewers in a space that envelops them in her signature dots.
It is undoubtedly a dive into a world apart.
The exhibition can be visited until July 21. For more information, visit: https://bit.ly/3MjJI3k