Yayoi Kusam's Dotty Exhibition - Wellington
Dotty Exhibition
Mistress of Dots, Yayoi Kusama has an exhibition “Mirrored Years’ on at The City Art Gallery in
I had mixed reviews from friends but went with an open mind and came away feeling pleased with the experience.
The entire exhibition amazed us all there was a lot to see and experience but Id have to say the best was the 60s style lounge room covered in tiny multi colour dots and lit with black lights was the most fascinating for me. Every person that entered could not help but voice their delight it was that impressive!
Yayoi is now 80’s and she chooses to live in a psychiatric institution, she suffers from hallucinations and has an obsession for polka dots that is reflected hugely in her works..
I found it interesting more so in that Yayoi Kusama has worked with some big name artists including Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns and the bit I like best on her biography is that in November 2008, Christies New York sold a work by her for $5,100,000, a record for a living female artist, Go Yayoi!
The exhibition “Mirrored Years’ offers the viewer quite an experience’—an immersion in a range of strange and evocative environments, with a focus on mirroring, reflection and repetitive patterns. It covers the range of Kusama’s artistic production, from wall-mounted assemblages and paintings to room-sized mirrored installations, which offer the viewer an experience of endlessness, and infinity like no other.
There are works from the 60s and 70s as well as new works and you can see the evolvement in her style over the years
I became fully immersed in the physical engagement of Kusama’s installations, especially the mirrored room with lights and water which explore colour, space, texture, pattern, light and scale. This experience allows you to become aware of the responses you have, as often your own image is reflected back at you, so that you literally become part of the artwork itself.
You can see the ‘obsessive artist’; as Yayoi describes herself in her work; the fixation with repetition, pattern and accumulation is everywhere.
It’s a sensory experience that I highly recommend so if you can make it to
As an artist myself, I now feel the need to paint one of the walls in my lounge and am now inspired to do a dot effect masterpiece.
Click on the image below to have a look at Obliteration Room being created at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery
Posted: Sunday 3 January 2010