{"id":14482,"date":"2019-12-15T06:30:16","date_gmt":"2019-12-15T11:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=14482"},"modified":"2021-10-05T17:08:15","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T21:08:15","slug":"yayoi-kusama-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2019\/12\/15\/yayoi-kusama-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Yayoi Kusama Exhibits In New York Offer An Overview Of Her Visionary Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

The wait was about 20 minutes in the cold on an early December\u00a0Thursday afternoon for one minute inside Yayoi Kusama\u2019s new \u201cInfinity Mirrored Room \u2013 Dancing Lights That Flew Up to the Universe.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a white box set up inside a white gallery, as part of her exhibit \u201cEvery Day I Pray for Love\u201d at David Zwirner<\/a> from Nov. 9 to Dec. 14, 2019. When the box\u2019s door opened, your eyes exploded with the constellation of lights inside the mirrored interior, reflecting seemingly to infinity. They cycled from darkness to a glowing line of white balls (actually plastic balls\u2014like holiday lights\u2014dangling from the ceiling) to a constellation of white balls that shifted to red then to darkness, repeat.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve visited a couple of Kusama\u2019s \u201cInfinity Mirrored Rooms\u201d in the past<\/a> and been frustrated by the limited time visitors are allowed inside. Much too short for the cosmic, meditative experience I\u2019ve hoped for. This time, I knew what I was getting into\u2014a fun minute to take your psychedelic photos and hop out again\u2014and was better able to briefly bliss out on the visionary moment.<\/p>\n

\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusma exhibition at Mucciaccia Gallery, New York, from Nov. 9, 2019, to Jan. 30, 2020. (Courtesy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Coinciding with the Zwirner exhibition, Mucciaccia Gallery in New York is presenting \u201cYayoi Kusama,\u201d<\/a> an overview of her career with 28 works dating from 1951 to 2008, from Nov. 9, 2019, to Jan. 30, 2020. Together the two exhibits offered a sort of mini-retrospective of Kusama\u2019s art.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy entire life has been painted here,\u201d a November 2019 statement from Kusama on the Zwirner wall read. \u201cEvery day, any day. \/ I will never cease dictating my whole life to my love for the universe. \/ Oh my dearest art, \/ With the challenge of creating new art, I work as if dying; these works are everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusma, untitled, 1953, pastel and gouache on paper. (Courtesy Mucciaccia Gallery, New York)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yayoi Kusama was born in 1929 and grew up on her wealthy family\u2019s seed nursery in Matsumoto, Japan. When she was 10, she had the first of the hallucinations that she would experience all her life\u2014she\u2019s described it as the red flower-patterned tablecloth that seemed to spread to everything.<\/p>\n

She took up art in her homeland before moving to the United States in 1957\u2014first Seattle, then New York the following summer. She filled canvases with little circles for her \u201cInfinity Net\u201d paintings, obsessive, minimalist versions of the Abstract Expressionist art. \u201cThis endless repetition caused a kind of dizzy, empty hypnotic feeling,\u201d Kusama said in a 1964 radio interview.<\/p>\n

Around 1962 and \u201963, she began sewing and stuffing phalluses. She covered coats with them and shoes and chairs and a rowboat and whole rooms. (The Mucciaccia Gallery exhibition includes \u201cIncrement in the Spring,\u201d a 1986 black and white polkadotted box filled with silver, white and yellow phallic protuberances and strings of beads.)<\/p>\n

\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusama\u2019s “Increment in the Spring,” 1986, mixed media, at Mucciaccia Gallery, New York, Dec. 5, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kusama created her first \u201cInfinity Mirror Room\u201d in 1965, with \u201cInfinity Mirror Room (Phalli\u2019s Field).\u201d She filled the floor of the mirrored space with hundreds of red and white polka dot phalluses. \u201cKusama\u2019s Peep Show: Endless Love Show\u201d from 1966 invited visitors to stick their heads in one of two windows into a hexagonal mirrored room aglow with blinking colored lights accompanied by music by The Beatles.<\/p>\n

At \u201cBody Festivals\u201d and \u201cSelf-Obliteration\u201d performances around New York in 1967 and \u201868, Kusama invited people to strip naked, then she painted them with polka dots. The events became increasingly politically charged\u2014protesting the American war in Vietnam or the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.<\/p>\n

But her art had often been a way to get a grip on her mental struggles. \u201cI paint them in quantity,\u201d Kusama said of her late \u201850s \u201cInfinity Net\u201d paintings. \u201cIn doing so, I try to escape.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusma, “Infinity-Nets (QPS),” 2008, acrylic on canvas. (Courtesy Mucciaccia Gallery, New York)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But she continued to suffer from anxiety attacks. In 1973, Kusama returned to Japan. She wrote short stories, poetry and novels (\u201cManhattan Suicide Addict,\u201d 1978). She continued painting, sculpting and making installations. In 1977, she took up residence at the Seiwa Hospital in Tokyo, where she\u2019d been getting periodic treatment for mental illness, while maintaining her own apartment and studio nearby.<\/p>\n

To those most familiar with Kusama\u2019s dots and phalluses, the Mucciaccia Gallery exhibition may surprise with collages of birds and bugs from the 1980s as well as a clay and glitter \u201cSleeping Girl,\u201d from 1988, that can bring to mind a blue mermaid with long gold hair.<\/p>\n

\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusama\u2019s “Sleeping Girl,” 1988, plastic, modeling clay, acrylic, glitter and feathers, at Mucciaccia Gallery, New York, Dec. 5, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

White Western art institutions began to rediscover Kusama as she returned to making \u201cInfinity Mirrored Rooms\u201d in the mid 1990s, and increasingly so over the past decade. Her art got bigger (like giant polkadot sculptures of pumpkins) and more immersive. The Mucciaccia Gallery includes a giant cartoon flower and two giant cartoon girls in polkadot dresses from the mid-2000s.<\/p>\n

Zwirner gallery offered some of Kusama’s newest artworks\u2014a giant black and white pumpkin sculpture, a long wall filled with a grid of new paintings from her \u201cMy Eternal Soul\u201d series (brightly colored with things that look like squiggly bugs and eyes and microscopic organisms), and on the floor, a new stainless-steel blobs sculpture that resembled puddles of reflective mercury.<\/p>\n

Related: <\/strong>
\nFirst Look Inside Yayoi Kusama’s Psychedelic ‘Infinity Room’ At Boston’s ICA<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusma, untitled, 1953. (Courtesy Mucciaccia Gallery, New York)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusma, “Bird,” 1980, collage, pastel, gouache and ink on paper. (Courtesy Mucciaccia Gallery, New York)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusma, “Mantis,” 1981, mixed media and collage on paper. (Courtesy Mucciaccia Gallery, New York)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusma, “Infinity Dots,” 1990, acrylic on canvas. (Courtesy Mucciaccia Gallery, New York)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusma, “Fallen Blossoms,” 1990, acrylic on canvas. (Courtesy Mucciaccia Gallery, New York)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusma, “The Galaxy,” 1994, acrylic on canvas. (Courtesy Mucciaccia Gallery, New York)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusma, “Mushrooms,” 2005, acrylic on canvas. (Courtesy Mucciaccia Gallery, New York)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusama\u2019s “Hi, Konnichiwa (Hello)! Miiko-Chan” (left), 2004, stryol metal, paint on specific canvas, at Mucciaccia Gallery, New York, Dec. 5, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusama\u2019s “Hi, Konnichiwa (Hello)! Miiko-Chan,” 2004, stryol metal, paint on specific canvas, at Mucciaccia Gallery, New York, Dec. 5, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusama\u2019s “Hi, Konnichiwa (Hello)! Hanako,” 2004, stryol metal, paint on specific canvas, motor, at Mucciaccia Gallery, New York, Dec. 5, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusama\u2019s “Hi, Konnichiwa (Hello)! Hanako,” 2004, stryol metal, paint on specific canvas, motor. (Courtesy Mucciaccia Gallery, New York)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusama\u2019s “Hi, Konnichiwa (Hello)! Taka-Chan” (left), 2005, stryol metal, paint on specific canvas, at Mucciaccia Gallery, New York, Dec. 5, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusama\u2019s “Hi, Konnichiwa (Hello)! Taka-Chan,” 2005, stryol metal, paint on specific canvas, at Mucciaccia Gallery, New York, Dec. 5, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusama\u2019s “Hi, Konnichiwa (Hello)! Taka-Chan,” 2005, stryol metal, paint on specific canvas, at Mucciaccia Gallery, New York, Dec. 5, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Yayoi Kusama\u2019s exhibit \u201cEvery Day I Pray for Love,” David Zwirner gallery, New York, Dec. 5, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusama\u2019s exhibit \u201cEvery Day I Pray for Love,” David Zwirner gallery, New York, Dec. 5, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusama\u2019s \u201cMy Eternal Soul\u201d series at David Zwirner gallery, New York, Dec. 5, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusama\u2019s \u201cInfinity Mirrored Room \u2013 Dancing Lights That Flew Up to the Universe,” David Zwirner gallery, New York, Dec. 5, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusama\u2019s \u201cInfinity Mirrored Room \u2013 Dancing Lights That Flew Up to the Universe,” David Zwirner gallery, New York, Dec. 5, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusama\u2019s \u201cInfinity Mirrored Room \u2013 Dancing Lights That Flew Up to the Universe,” David Zwirner gallery, New York, Dec. 5, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusama\u2019s \u201cInfinity Mirrored Room \u2013 Dancing Lights That Flew Up to the Universe,” David Zwirner gallery, New York, Dec. 5, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Yayoi<\/a>
Yayoi Kusama\u2019s \u201cInfinity Mirrored Room \u2013 Dancing Lights That Flew Up to the Universe,” David Zwirner gallery, New York, Dec. 5, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The wait was about 20 minutes in the cold on an early December\u00a0Thursday afternoon for one minute inside Yayoi Kusama\u2019s new \u201cInfinity Mirrored Room \u2013 Dancing Lights That Flew Up to the Universe.\u201d It was a white box set up inside a white gallery, as part of her exhibit \u201cEvery Day I Pray for Love\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14600,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[651,650,584,939],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14482"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14482"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14638,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14482\/revisions\/14638"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}