87-year-old Yayoi Kusama has been creating art ever since she was a young girl, growing up in Nagano, Japan. At the age of ten, she began to experience vivid hallucinations of vast fields of dots, and bright flashes of light. These hallucinations would eventually inspire some of her most celebrated works of art, such as Infinity Nets and The Obliteration Room. Now, her work will make a landmark visit to Broad Museum in nearby Los Angeles. Here’s what to see at Kusama at the Broad Museum, from October 21 through January 1, 2018.
Infinity Nets
Kusama describes her series of paintings titled, Infinity Nets, as being without beginning, end or center. Covering entire canvases in repetitive, monochromatic net patterns, Kusama’s paintings almost look like intricate latticework. Viewers are often confounded by the effects of her strokes, which are both contained by the canvas, and seemingly endlessly stretching out beyond it.
Infinity Mirrored Room
A small, mirror-lined chamber dotted with thousands of LED lights, Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room invites viewers to become a part of her work– to participate in infinity. As the lights in the chamber bounce from mirror to mirror, they accumulate and expand exponentially, taking the viewer with them.
All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins
In this Infinity Room, Kusama creates a series of artificial yellow pumpkins covered in black polka dots. Once a visitor enters, they immediately become integrated into this strange, bright backdrop, encouraging them to consider Kusama’s fascination with space– how we occupy it, and how we perceive it.
Dots Obsession – Love Turned into Dots
In this 2006 work, massive, red dotted balloons hang from the ceiling, lie on the floor, and are suspended in the space in-between. Kusama also sometimes appears in a video projection, dressed in red, covered in dots and eating flowers. With this display, Kusama endeavors to show how easily individuals can become lost in the fabric of the universe.
Image credit: All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins, 2016. For more information, visit the Kusama at the Broad exhibit website.