Yayoi Kusama: Infinity....Mirrored Years
'Mirrored Years' was a major exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney in 2019 from internationally renowned Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (born 1929).
The exhibition juxtaposed seminal works from the 1960s with more recent installations - films, paintings, floor pieces and silkscreen prints on canvas. Also included were major new works.
I have read that Kusama describes herself as an ‘obsessive artist’. Her work is intensely sensual, infused with autobiographical, psychological and sexual content.
I learned that she has had visual and auditory hallucinations since she was 10 years old and instinctively began transforming those experiences into art. Pumpkins are one of the most recognisable recurring motifs throughout her career, relating to the fact that her father was a seed merchant.
Highlighted here is a section of her 'Infinity Room' measuring 7m x 7m. Every surface is bright yellow and covered with black dots. The multitude of mirrors creates a participatory experience by casting the visitor as the subject of the work.
And thanks to the mirrored box at the centre of the space, which reflects yet more dots - one is confronted with - and cannot escape - one's own image at the very centre of this alternate universe.
I found the exhibition to be a simultaneously stimulating, confronting, exciting and disorientating experience.
© All rights reserved.
Yayoi Kusama: Infinity....Mirrored Years
'Mirrored Years' was a major exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney in 2019 from internationally renowned Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (born 1929).
The exhibition juxtaposed seminal works from the 1960s with more recent installations - films, paintings, floor pieces and silkscreen prints on canvas. Also included were major new works.
I have read that Kusama describes herself as an ‘obsessive artist’. Her work is intensely sensual, infused with autobiographical, psychological and sexual content.
I learned that she has had visual and auditory hallucinations since she was 10 years old and instinctively began transforming those experiences into art. Pumpkins are one of the most recognisable recurring motifs throughout her career, relating to the fact that her father was a seed merchant.
Highlighted here is a section of her 'Infinity Room' measuring 7m x 7m. Every surface is bright yellow and covered with black dots. The multitude of mirrors creates a participatory experience by casting the visitor as the subject of the work.
And thanks to the mirrored box at the centre of the space, which reflects yet more dots - one is confronted with - and cannot escape - one's own image at the very centre of this alternate universe.
I found the exhibition to be a simultaneously stimulating, confronting, exciting and disorientating experience.
© All rights reserved.