Page 32 - World of Art Contemporary Art magazine: The 2023 Guggenheim issue

WORLD-CLASS ART

YAYOI KUSAMA:
1945 TO NOW
Curators: Doryun Chong and Mika Yoshitake, in collaboration
with Lucía Agirre. Sponsored by Iberdrola. Exhibition
organized by M+, Hong Kong, in collaboration with the
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

THE GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM BILBAO PRESENTS YAYOI
KUSAMA: 1945 TO NOW, AN AMBITIOUS RETROSPECTIVE
DEDICATED TO ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL FIGURES OF
CONTEMPORARY ART AND A CULTURAL ICON OF THE 21ST
CENTURY. THE EXHIBITION, SPONSORED BY IBERDROLA, WILL
Yayoi Kusama. Untitled (Chair), 1963, Sewn stuffed fabric, wood, and paint
IMMERSE THE VISITOR IN THE OBSESSIVE, SINGULAR, AVANT- 81 × 93 × 92 cm. Collection of the artist © Yayoi Kusama. Photo courtesy: Yayoi
GARDE UNIVERSE OF YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929, JAPAN) THAT Kusama Foundation.
HAS EVOLVED AND UNFOLDED OVER THE SEVEN DECADES
OF HER EXTRAORDINARY ARTISTIC CAREER.

The work of Yayoi Kusama is articulated around the
great themes and questions that have guided her
creative explorations: Infinity, Accumulation, Radical
Connectivity, Biocosmic, Death, and Force of Life. Through
paintings, drawings, sculptures, installations, and archival
materials on her happenings and performances, the
exhibition shows the way in which Kusama addresses
the existential questions that drive her artistic practice.
A pioneer in the countercultural scene of the late 1960s,
Kusama denounced racial and gender discriminations,
critiqued war and militarism, and drew media attention
with her public happenings. Kusama’s interest in
nature is at once mystical and literal, as illustrated by
her pumpkins, which the artist identifies as a kind of
benevolent vegetable spirit and as a reflection of her own
soul, though at the same time they offer an immediate
identification with nature. The joyful and colorful works
of her recent series, My Eternal Soul (2009–21), explore
Kusama’s commitment to transforming her suffering into
art “for the healing of all mankind”.

Yayoi Kusama. Death of a Nerve, 1976 Mixed media with stuffed fabric, Diam. 15
cm, length 100 m. Lito and Kim Camacho Collection, © Yayoi Kusama.

Yayoi Kusama. Clouds, 2019 Embossed stainless steel, dimensions variable.
Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts and David Zwirner, © Yayoi Kusama.

30 WORLD of ART