Yoyoi Kusama (b. 1929) is one of Japan's most highly respected artists, whose innovative work has changed directions several times over the past 60 years. The exhibition features hitherto unseen items, as well as new works specially created for this exhibition.
The installation is set out in a series of 14 rooms, each showcasing distinctive changes in Kusama's style and output. In some rooms you walk around looking at the paintings, collages, sculptures and other works. In others you actually enter the work of art to explore and appreciate it.
Yayoi Kusama and Her Work
Yayoi Kusama was born in Matsumoto, Japan, in 1929. Showing an early interest in art, both Eastern and Western, she trained in traditional Japanese painting. After moving to New York in 1958, she embarked on the series known as Infinity Net. These canvases are covered in endlessly-repeated, scalloped brush strokes of a single colour. Many art historians believe her work from this period influenced artists such as Andy Warhol and Claus Oldenburg.
Whilst in New York, Kusama started creating room installations such as Aggregation: One Thousand Boats Show (1963), as well as the pieces she calls Accumulation sculptures. She takes everyday household articles, such as furniture, clothing and accessories, and covers these with a proliferation of repeated stuffed fabric phalli.
As a female Asian artist, Kusama felt alienated from the male-dominated New York art scene. She expressed those feelings in Walking Piece (1966), a series of colour slides photographed by Eiko Hosoe. In the performance, Kusama wears a bright pink floral kimono and carries a large umbrella, also covered with flowers. Although her costume suggests happiness and exoticism, the scene is set in New York's empty industrial streets. It ends with her walking dejectedly away from the camera.
Returning to Japan in 1973, Kusama started creating immersive environments such as I'm Here, but Nothing (2000-2012), which is recreated in the exhibition. The setting is a large interior, featuring domestic furniture and accessories. The room, and everything in it, is covered with psychedelic fluorescent sticker spots which glow in the dim light. The environment is uncanny and surreal. Kusama uses the polka dots to express her own hallucinatory visions during which she sees the world as being overtaken by endlessly-repeated forms. Visitors can enter and explore the room.
The climax of the exhibition is Infinity Mirrored Room - Filled with the Brilliance of Life (2011), designed specifically for Tate. The room features hundreds of LED lights that change colours and are reflected back at the viewer. Kusama's first mirrored room, Infinity Mirror Room – Phalli's Field, was created in 1965, and since then reflecting surfaces have become a key feature in much of her work.
The exhibition is curated by Frances Morris, Head of Collection, International Art, Tate, with Rachel Taylor, Assistant Curator, Tate Modern. The installation has been organised by Tate Modern in association with the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; the Centre Pompidou, Paris and The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Tate Modern is grateful for the support of Louis Vuitton; the Yayoi Kusama Exhibition Supporters Group and Tate International Council. Louis Vuitton is also sponsoring a programme of activities for young people to be held at Tate.
Yayoi Kusama – Exhibition Catalogue
To mark the exhibition Tate Publishing has produced a beautiful 208-page catalogue, edited by Frances Morris. The publication includes contributions from Rachel Taylor, Jo Applin, Juliet Mitchell, Mignon Nixon and Midori Yamamura. Featuring 200 colour illustrations, the book is available in hardback (ISBN: 978 1 84976 038 6) priced at £35.00, and paperback (ISBN: 978 1 84976 939 9) priced at £24.99.
Also available from Tate Publishing is Infinity Net, the first English translation of Yayoi Kusama's autobiography.
Tickets and further information can be obtained from Tate Modern.
Frances Spiegel - Frances Spiegel, B.A. Hons. (Open)., Dip.Eur.Hum., read Art History/European Modern History at the Open University.
