The Yayoi Kusama Museum has been holding two exhibitions and various activities every year since its opening in 2017, showcasing the art collection of this avant-garde artist of the 21st century to the audience. The exhibition collection not only covers different types of creations but also includes many large installations and sculptures by various artists, making each new exhibition opening highly anticipated.
In March of this year, the museum once again presents a spectacular large-scale exhibition “Poetry in the Heart”, featuring Yayoi Kusama’s Japanese paintings, oil paintings, watercolors, pastels, and installation works based on hallucinatory experiences. The various works span the artist’s decades-long career, all revolving around her mental state and inner world.
© YAYOI KUSAMA
The focus of this exhibition is on several large sculptures, including Yayoi Kusama’s iconic polka dot floral sculpture “Flowers That Bloom at Midnight”, the three-dimensional work “Red Horizon” (1980) made of stacked red gloves, the sculpture “Life” (2015) created in 2015, and other pumpkin sculptures.
In addition, the art museum also presents an installation piece in a room titled “I’m Here, but Nothing” (2000/2022). This piece is based on the artist’s hallucinatory experience, with various items in the room illuminated by UV lights and covered with fluorescent circular lights. Stepping into the room, the audience feels as if they are experiencing the world through the eyes of the artist, creating a rather impactful experience.
Yayoi Kusama’s creative drive comes from highly personal experiences, including the hallucinations that overflowed due to her mental illness during her childhood. These inner fantasies fill her work with surreal elements and gradually establish an iconic style. By the early 1950s, Yayoi Kusama’s work showed outstanding originality, leading to high praise from art experts at the time as she made her debut as an artist.
From the past to the present, we can all feel the artist’s unlimited imagination in her creations. She breaks free from rational thinking and expression, successfully capturing everyone’s attention with strong brushstrokes and intense compositions. But what truly elevates her to the current height of art is her ability to transform the hallucinatory pain of mental illness into art, healing countless individuals.
Yayoi Kusama “Poetry of the Heart” Exhibition
Date: From now until August 28, 2022
Location: Yayoi Kusama Museum, 107 Bentencho Shinjuku-ku Tokyo 162-0851 Japan
Image source and learn more: Yayoi Kusama Museum
