yayoi kusama: I want to live forever

one is welcomed to PAC by a wall of kusama’s all consuming dots. alongside are her ‘flowers that bloom at midnight’ sculptures, 2009 image © designboom

yayoi kusama: I want to live forever PAC padiglione d’arte contemporanea, milan on now until february 14th, 2010

under the curatorshop of akira tatehata(director of osaka national museum of art), in partnership with the milan city council-councillorship for culture and 24 ORE motta cultura, PAC(padiglione d’arte contemporanea) is now presenting an exhibition on japanese artist, yayoi kusama entitled, ‘I want to live forever’. this is an exclusive event for italy, dedicated to the contemporary work of the artist. focusing on her paintings, sculptures and installations from the last decade, there are also a selection of her formative drawings from the 1950s and 60s. the characteristics of kusama’s work are driven by a mental illness that has afflicted her since childhood. she has always been caught up in a powerful obsession to fill space with identical patterns. the artist’s work has been discussed in terms of the sites where it has been made and the forms which she has used. her work moves between impulsiveness and deliberation, and although working since the 1950s, she continues to produce new variations on her work which are ultimately derived the same principle. her work is not just hallucinations, but rather a precise and obsessive research into the troubling elements of perception: dots, nets, mirrors…

flowers that bloom at midnight S2A, 2009 fiberglass reinforced plastic, metal, urethane paint 136 x 220 x 228 cm image © designboom

‘polka dots are a way to infinity.‘ – YK. these are kusama’s most recent group of monumental sculptures. vividly painted, baroque flowers which measure in height between 1.5 to 5 metres.

flowers that bloom at midnight S2A, 2009 fiberglass reinforced plastic, metal, urethane paint 304 x 201 x 198 cm image © designboom

detail image © designboom

installation view image © designboom

pumpkin: large, 2008 fiberglass reinforced plastic, paint 250 x 200 x 220 cm image © designboom

the vibrant, yellow pumpkins are covered in an optical pattern of black spots, and are a kind of alter ego for the artist.

pumpkin: small, 2009 fiberglass reinforced plastic, paint 90 x 130 x 130 cm image © designboom

detail of yayoi kusama’s signature on pumpkin: small, 2009 image © designboom

dots-obsession(TOBBQW), 2008 urethane paint on canvas 194 x 194 image © designboom

life(repetitive vision), 1998 mixed media image © designboom

detail image © designboom

I want to live forever, 2008 acrylic on canvas, five panels 227.3 x 908 cm image © designboom

detail image © designboom

installation view image © designboom

passing winter, 2005 mirror and glass 190 x 80 x 80 cm image © designboom

passing winter is a hand-beveled mirrored cube that yields to the abyss of endlessly repeating self-portraits of the viewer.

looking into passing winter, 2005 image © designboom

detail inside image © designboom

detail image © designboom

solitude of the earth, 1994 mixed media image © designboom

detail of cabinet image © designboom

detail of table image © designboom

installation view image © designboom

narcissus garden, 1966 set of 888 metal balls, diam. 30 cm each image © designboom

first exhibited at the 33rd annual venice art biennale in 1966, kusama’s interactive narcissus garden, with the assistance of lucio fontana, consists of 1500 mirror balls spread on the gallery floor.

aftermath of obliteration of eternity, 2009 wood, plastic, acrylic, LEDs, aluminum 415 x 415 x 287.4 cm image © designboom

the complex environment of ‘aftermath of obliteration of eternity’ operates on a system of simple optical devices. in a dark void, a delicate shimmering mirage unfolds around the viewer, a myriad of gleaming golden lights that reproduce and reflect endlessly into space.

inside aftermath of obliteration of eternity, 2009 wood, plastic, acrylic, LEDs, aluminum 415 x 415 x 287.4 cm image © designboom

the infinity net paintings are isotropic fields painted with evenly painted elements, either in monochromes or vibrant contrasting and psychedelic hues.

kusama’s cosmic space paintings are her most recent figurative paintings, in which eyes, amoebae and other biomorphic forms abound, reflecting a preoccupation with mortality, as well as enlightenment, solitude, nothingness, and the mysteries of the physical and metaphysical universe.

yayoi kusama was born in matsumoto city, japan in 1929. her work is in the collections of leading museums, internationally, including the MoMA new york, LACMA, los angeles, tate modern, london, centre pompidou, paris, stedelijk museum, amsterdam. at the age of 89, kusama has recently completed several outdoor sculptural commissions, her ‘flowers that bloom at midnight’, for public and private institutions including fukuoka municipalmuseum of art in japan, eurolille in lille, france and most recently, the beverly hills city council in los angeles. kusama currently lives and works in tokyo.

yayoi kusama (39)