What is the meaning of life to someone who has experienced a long, eventful ride? Yayoi Kusama, one of the most famous living artists in the world, has the answer.
At the age of 95, Kusama is still bursting with creative energy, and her latest solo exhibition “Every Day I Pray for Love” is solid proof. Opening at Victoria Miro in London this week ahead of Frieze London, the show (the artist’s 14th solo exhibition with the gallery) is more than just a presentation of the famed artist’s vision and versatility across paintings, installations, and sculptures. Collectively, they paint a picture of a life that should be embraced by people of all ages.
Some industry insiders jokingly said Kusama is like a lifeline to many art industry workers, and even to luxury brands in these trying times. Indeed, she is one of the top-selling artists in the world, with a total sales value of $190 million, the eighth “most bankable” artist in 2023, according to Artnet Price Database. But sales aside, she is adored by the people.
Yayoi Kusama, Death of Nerves (2022), installation view of “Every Day I Pray For Love.” All works courtesy the artist, Ota Fine Arts and Victoria Miro © YAYOI KUSAMA
A long queue formed outside the gallery on Wharf Road when I went to the show’s first public opening day on Wednesday. It was a diverse crowd of all ages and different ethnicities. There were plenty of mothers bringing their young children along; one toddler was wearing a child harness, which was probably a relief to gallery staffers worried about sticky fingers and unsteady toddlers (another child nearly touched a painting). But they all shared the same eagerness and excitement as they stepped into the gallery to immerse themselves in the world of Kusama.
Many of them first stopped by the nearly 50-foot tall installation (2022), located the closest to the ground floor entrance. Originally commissioned by Hong Kong’s M+ as part of the artist’s 2022 retrospective, “Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now,” the work consists of multiple, long, colorful fabric tentacles decorated with the artist’s signature polka dots. When it was shown at M+, the work was given more space and spread out across the room, whereas at the London gallery, the work is installed in a much more confined space, suspended from the ceiling of the gallery’s upper floor and saturating the gallery’s architectural void like tendrils or vines. Viewers get to enjoy two very different perspectives of the work standing on either the ground or upper floor. The setting offers a more dynamic and playful viewing experience as one cannot get a full-view of the entire gigantic installation no matter where they stand. It is almost like playing hide and seek with these sewn tentacles.
Yayoi Kusama, Every Day I Pray for Love—Women’s Profiles (2024). All works courtesy the artist, Ota Fine Arts and Victoria Miro © YAYOI KUSAMA
A few steps away from that installation sits the much-anticipated This 2024 work is the latest rendition of Kusama’s popular series, echoing two of the artist’s early works from 1966, and . Tickets to its showcases, such as the one at Tate Modern, were constantly sold out throughout its nearly three-year exhibition period that concluded in April. The work, set in a hexagonal space is also a headliner of the show.
Does this live up to the hype? In most cases, standing in any room immersed in the visual illusion of infinite mirrored images can never be called a total disappointment. But what about when the room is installed with a ceiling of flashing LED lights in fluorescent colors that form a hexagonal pattern, reflecting endlessly across all surfaces from the mirrored walls to the reflective surface of a large sphere sitting right in the middle of the room? It was fun at first when I set foot in the room. Then, it grew uncomfortable as the throbbing lights changed the tone of the room in rapid speed, and I could not stay for longer. Certainly, contemporary art is not meant to make you feel comfortable, but such a unique viewing experience leaves a complex aftertaste that lingers on my mind.
Exhibition goers and their children admire Yayoi Kusama’s paintings on the wall at Victoria Miro, London. Photo: Vivienne Chow.
Compared to all these complex installations, the playful paintings hung on the walls of the upper gallery offer a much more straightforward channel to connect with Kusama’s rich inner world. These colorful new paintings from the artist’s most recent ongoing series (2021-) are created in the artist’s room, rather than her studio, according to poet, critic, and curator Akira Tatehata, who penned an essay for the show. “Kusama has often described her approach to art as being a quest,” she wrote, “and it would be no exaggeration to say her entire life is now focused on picking up a paintbrush.”
Polka dots are still the dominant motif but these whimsical, childlike paintings—some that even appear to be spontaneous—are the artist’s most direct expressions of and commentaries on life. They may seem repetitive at times, but if one has a will, it is still possible to create extraordinary out of the ordinary. Out of these lines and dots in different colors and patterns, Kusama added some profiles of funny faces which serve as inspirations for the three new bonze sculptures installed in the gallery’s garden. The artist also inscribed texts in Japanese and English on several paintings, prompting Tatehata to wonder if poetry is playing a role in Kusama’s creations now. Together, they form a meaningful body of work.
Yayoi Kusama, Ladder to Heaven (2024). All works courtesy the artist, Ota Fine Arts and Victoria Miro © YAYOI KUSAMA
The sculpture (2024), a new rendition of the series of the same name, may well be a metaphor of the role Kusama plays as an artist. The sculpture is simple, a 13-foot ladder with a reflective surface connecting two mirrored circular panels, one on top and one at the bottom. The ladder’s surface is full of hollowed polka dots.
The gallery said this is the first from the series ever created for outdoor installation. The past renditions, such as the one conceived in 2002 that sold for £478,800 ($536,771) at a Sotheby’s London auction in October 2022 according to Artnet Price Database, were made with lighting fibre tube and exhibited indoors only. But this latest version in the garden sees the ladder expanding endlessly through mirrored panels, as if it was an infinity ladder that connects heaven and earth. The artist, who had once incorporated herself into works by applying polka dot stickers on her body in her performances, or the polka-dotted mannequin sculptures featured in (1966-74), is like this ladder, acting as a conduit bridging the infinite realms.
“I pray for love everyday,” Kusama inscribed across her paintings. Seeing the smiling faces of curious visitors and young children roaming around the gallery, I am certain that Kusama’s prayers are heard.
Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com
