yayoi kusama brings colorful dot-covered obliteration room to new york

yayoi kusama brings colorful dot covered obliteration room to new york
all images © yayoi kusama
courtesy of kusama enterprise, ota fine arts, tokyo / singapore and david zwirner, new york

yayoi kusama: give me love
david zwirner, new york
now through june 13 ,2015

comprising new paintings from the ‘my eternal soul’ series, new polka-dotted pumpkin sculptures, and the artist’s widely celebrated installation ‘the obliteration room’, yayoi kusama‘s exhibition at the david zwirner gallery in new york marks the product of a renewed dedication to art making over the past years. the gallery rooms present three dimensional works, participatory pieces and painted canvasses that tower above exhibition-goers, embodying a continued exploration of form, subject matter, and space, while demonstrating a connection to her work from the past six decades.

the obliteration room, 2002-present
furniture, white paint, dot stickers / dimensions variable
collaboration between yayoi kusama and queensland art gallery
commissioned queensland art gallery, australia / gift of the artist through the queensland art gallery foundation 2012

the exhibition ‘give me love’ marks first time ‘the obliteration room’ has been shown in the united states. varying from previous iterations of the work, which began as early as 2002, the installation at david zwirner is built as a traditional, prefabricated american suburban house, rather than taking over one or several gallery rooms.

within the interior, an all-white, domestic setting containing familiar household objects such as a kitchen counter, couch, and teapot, are all painted the same shade. as visitors enter inside the dwelling, they are handed a set of stickers, each a different brightly colored dot of a varying size. these participants are asked to leave their mark wherever they choose, placing the sticky circles anywhere and everywhere. the space gradually transforms as a result of the interaction and the mass accumulation of the dots ultimately changes the white interior until it becomes an unrecognizable blur of colors.

the domestic items that infill the space are completely covered in dots

dotted patterns have become a recurring motif throughout kusama’s oeuvre, nothing their relevance in her life at an early age, which she later came to refer to as obliteration. their enveloping presence in ‘the obliteration room’ recalls the artist’s infinity rooms, in which thousands of small lights flicker against mirrored walls, an example of which was presented during kusama’s exhibition at david zwirner in 2013, which attracted thousands of visitors to the gallery each day.

the space gradually transforms as a result of the interaction

the exhibition marks first time ‘the obliteration room’ has been shown in the united states

the dots ultimately change the white interior until it becomes an unrecognizable blur of color

an all-white kitchen counter top is transformed by the colored dots

dots of varying size and color are applied onto the furnishings

all domestic furnishings can be used as a surface for the stickers

details of sticker arrangements on the surface of the interior walls

a traditional, prefabricated american suburban house is the setting for the installation

as part of their new series called ‘kids critique’, our friends at the creators project take children to contemporary art exhibitions to get their view on major artworks and installations. the premier episode brings an army of youngsters to david zwirner gallery to explore yayoi kusama’s ‘give me love’ exhibition. take a look at the children’s video review below, and read more about their experience on the creators project.

1/6