New York is filled with the colors and polka dots of Yayoi Kusama
We were going to enjoy it last spring but the pandemic made us wait another long year. But now, finally, New York will be, until October 31 , the artistic capital of Yayoi Kusama , the Japanese creator known for her works of garish colors, wavy shapes, and of course her iconic polka dots. It is a long-awaited return for Kusama to the city where she lived for a long decade, in the 1960s, and where she proved to be extremely versatile and productive.
In fact, it was in her studio in New York that she created one of her most iconic works, which is also not missing from this new exhibition. KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature of New York Botanical Garden . is the call infinity room , a room lined with mirrors and decorated with luminous objects that gives the visitor the sensation of being lost in the center of an entire eternal universe. It is, without a doubt, one of the main attractions of the exhibition and, of course, it is not lacking in the route of this new sample.
'Flower Obsession'
The room of the botanical garden bears the title 'Pumpkins Screaming About Love Beyond Infinity' and it is a tender tribute to the pumpkin, a humble vegetable that Kusama loves as the informative poster of the work records: “ when I see a pumpkin I cannot hide that it is my everything, nor the fascination that it awakens in me”.
The room effect is just as mesmerizing because you walk in in the absolute darkness and, little by little, a lot of pumpkins of various sizes, trapped inside translucent mirrors , they light up impregnating everything with an intense orange yellow. If we look out, the set of pumpkins becomes a carpet of fire that has no end.
This is one of the two infinity rooms exhibited by the botanical garden but, for the second, we will have to wait a little longer to enjoy it. The living room 'Illusion Inside the Heart' it hides inside a cube lined with (of course) mirrors, and is sensitive to natural light to change color with the day. The new space will not open until June but you can now visit the cube from the outside and admire the landscape of the garden reflected on its surface. This is how you make mouth...
'My Soul Blooms Forever'
The itinerary through the idyllic gardens, from the main access, starts with the imposing 'I Want to Fly to the Universe' , one of the works created expressly for this exhibition. It is a flower with red and blue tentacles with the face of a sun in its heart . His face draws an expression of surprise, the same that stays in yours when you contemplate this impressive sculpture that, for maximum effect, rests on a pond that reflects its shadow.
Not too far, Hidden behind some cherry trees whose blossom has burst with spring in New York, is the lake of the Native Plant Garden where 1,400 stainless steel spheres sail aimlessly, pushed by the wind. It is 'Narcissus Garden' a work that Kusama created in 1966 for the Venice Biennale and that has visited museums around the world. If the weather is good, the spheres hit each other creating a faint sound that pushes you to sit on the shore to meditate.
'Narcissus Garden'
To complete the tour of the part of the exhibition that is outdoors, we have 'Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees' , a path of trees lined with red cloth and white polka dots . And of course, 'Dancing Pumpkin', the star of the exhibition and another of Kusama's novelties that is presented as a mammoth bronze sculpture, almost 5 meters high . The dancing pumpkin, dressed in black and orange and covered in polka dots, is surrounded by birch trees (the same tree that flooded Matsumoto, the city where the artist grew up). Visitors are invited to wander among her giant legs and be entertained by her reflective interior, a perfect target for selfies.
It is even more interactive 'Flower Obsession' , a greenhouse that we entered armed with an adhesive or plastic flower with the express permission to paste it in the corner that we like the most : on the table, perfectly laid out for a good lunch, on the shelves full of books and ceramics or in the gardening tools. The curious thing is that, during the months that the exhibition lasts, nothing is going to be touched. That is, in all probability the space will be completely engulfed by flowers and stickers.
'Dancing Pumpkin'
The exhibition continues inside, already inside the Haupt Conservatory . Here we find 'My Soul Blooms Forever' work formed by a group of giant flowers painted in striking colors that rest in the water and under the recently restored glass dome of the Palms of the World Gallery. He also deserves a good walk 'Starry Pumpkin' where another gourd decorated like a mosaic of pink and gold pieces is lost among vegetation inspired by its shape and colours.
Kusama in 'Flower Obsession'
We finish off with a set of sketches, drawings and reproductions of his old creations that you can find in the Mertz Library Building . In addition, a series of photos of her performances are included (such as the one she did in 1966 in New York, walking through its streets dressed in a pink kimono and with an umbrella decorated with flowers).
In a New York still reeling from the pandemic, Kusama, hand in hand with spring, invites us to lose ourselves in a dreamy garden full of flowers, colors and polka dots. So everything looks better.