yayoi kusama exhibits dizzying infinity rooms and paintings

yayoi kusama exhibits dizzying infinity rooms and paintings
yayoi kusama in her 2013 solo exhibition i who have arrived in heaven at david zwirner, new york
courtesy david zwirner and yayoi kusama studio inc.
photo by will ragozzino

yayoi kusama: I who have arrived in heaven
david zwirner, new york
november 8th – december 21st, 2013

with a six decade long career behind her, the famed japanese artist yayoi kusama shows no signs of slowing down, presenting a monumental show of new and recent work at david zwirner gallery in new york. her distinguishing themes of universal infinity, endlessness, and the cosmic realms are reflected in twenty-seven new large scale paintings, two immersive sculptural rooms, and a video installation, of which the exhibit ‘I who have arrived in heaven’ is comprised, spanning the gallery’s three consecutive locations. kusama’s amalgamation of pop and minimalist art have manifested as hypnotic architectural interventions within david zwirner gallery, dizzying the visitor in illuminated mazes of sound, light, and color. one of kusama’s most kaleidoscopic environments to date is filled with inflatable tentacle like forms covered in the artists trademark polka dots, while the artist’s voice can be simultaneously heard reciting a japanese love poem. her more recent explorations of two-dimensional mediums have been realized through the series of acrylic works, all painted by hand, with representations of vibrant biomorphic shapes and forms personified as animated creatures.

yayoi kusama
love is calling, 2013
wood, metal, glass mirrors, tile, acrylic panel, rubber, blowers, lighting element, speakers, and sound
174 1/2 x 340 5/8 x 239 3/8 inches (443 x 865 x 608 cm)
courtesy david zwirner and yayoi kusama studio inc.

(left and right)
love is calling (2013) installed as part of the artist’s inaugural exhibition i who have arrived in heaven at david zwirner, new york
photo by will ragozzino

kusama’s newest mirrored infinity room is at the centerpiece of the exhibition. the reflective-paneled cube has hundreds of multi-chromatic LED lights suspended from varying heights from the ceiling. flickering and pulsing wildly, the bulbs generate a strobe-like effect within the interior suggesting an endless illumination reminiscent of the universe.

yayoi kusama
infinity mirrored room – the souls of millions of light years away, 2013
wood, metal, glass mirrors, plastic, acrylic panel, rubber, led lighting system, and acrylic balls
113 x 163 3/8 x 168 1/8 inches (287 x 415 x 427 cm)
courtesy david zwirner and yayoi kusama studio inc. photo: maris hutchinson.

foraying into two-dimensional mediums, kusama has created an expansive series of square format paintings, most spanning over 6 feet (nearly 2 meters) in height. colorful seas of oblong shapes, motifs, and figures pattern the canvasses, some of which are personified with faces and expressions. the rounded, vibrant forms suggest silhouettes of basic life forms, like cells and amoebas, tying back once again to the artist’s trademark theme of microscopic and macroscopic universes.

yayoi kusama
photo by gautier deblonde
courtesy david zwirner, new york/london