ART & DESIGN

From London to Connecticut, It’s a Yayoi Kusama Takeover


Yayoi Kusama
Courtesy of Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama might now be 87, but the Japanese artist who’s covered everything from steel pumpkins to George Clooney in polka dots is showing no signs of slowing down. She opened two new solo shows this month, taking over both the indoors and outdoors of London’s Victoria Miro gallery with sculptures, paintings, and her Instagram-famed mirrored rooms. Given the title of one of those installations – “All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins” – it’s no surprise that one of the gourds made it over to her stateside show in Connecticut, too, occupying one of the meadows in between Philip Johnson’s Glass House and the Narcissus Garden, whose pond she filled with 1,300 mirrored, miraculously floating steel balls. The Victoria Miro show is up until July 30th, but the rest of the year looks like it’ll be equally as Kusama-filled: her work will be at the Glass House through November, and getting some company in September in the form of “Dots Obsession,” one of her so-called infinity rooms. On the off chance she’s not headed for your Airbnb next, take a look inside all the installations, here.

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Yayoi Kusama by Noriko Takasugi, 2014.

Photo © Noriko Takasugi.

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“All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins” installation, 2016, in “Yayoi Kusama” at Victoria Miro, London.

Courtesy of KUSAMA Enterprise, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo / Singapore and Victoria Miro, London. © Yayoi Kusama.

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“Yayoi Kusama: Narcissus Garden” at The Glass House, Connecticut. Photo by Matthew Placek.

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“Yayoi Kusama: Narcissus Garden” at The Glass House, Connecticut. Photo by Matthew Placek.

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“Chandelier of Grief” installation, 2016, in “Yayoi Kusama” at Victoria Miro, London.

Courtesy of KUSAMA Enterprise, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo / Singapore and Victoria Miro, London. © Yayoi Kusama.

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“MY HEART’S ABODE,” acrylic on canvas, 2016, in “Yayoi Kusama” at Victoria Miro, London.

Courtesy of KUSAMA Enterprise, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo / Singapore and Victoria Miro, London. © Yayoi Kusama.

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“PUMPKIN,” steel sculpture, 2015, in “Yayoi Kusama: Narcissus Garden” at The Glass House, Connecticut. Photo by Matthew Placek.

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“All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins” installation, 2016, in “Yayoi Kusama” at Victoria Miro, London.

Courtesy of KUSAMA Enterprise, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo / Singapore and Victoria Miro, London. © Yayoi Kusama.

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“Where the Lights in My Hearts Go,” installation, 2016, in “Yayoi Kusama” at Victoria Miro, London.

Courtesy of KUSAMA Enterprise, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo / Singapore and Victoria Miro, London. © Yayoi Kusama.

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“SHEDDING TEARS TO THE SEASON,” acrylic on canvas, 2015, in “Yayoi Kusama” at Victoria Miro, London.

Courtesy of KUSAMA Enterprise, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo / Singapore and Victoria Miro, London. © Yayoi Kusama.

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“Yayoi Kusama: Narcissus Garden” at The Glass House, Connecticut. Photo by Matthew Placek.

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“Pumpkin (S),” mirror polished bronze, 2016, in “Yayoi Kusama” at Victoria Miro, London.

Courtesy of KUSAMA Enterprise, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo / Singapore and Victoria Miro, London. © Yayoi Kusama.

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“Yayoi Kusama: Narcissus Garden” at The Glass House, Connecticut. Photo by Matthew Placek.