The National Gallery of Victoria is currently holding an exhibition of the works of a famous Japanese artist. We gained a large dose of ‘culcha’ when we visited her exhibition today. It is so large that it takes up the whole ground floor of the gallery and is presented in two parts.
Yayoi Kusama is one of the world’s most celebrated living artists. Her polka-dotted pumpkin and flower sculptures are recognised around the world, and her infinity mirror rooms are significant in the modern trend of art being something that immerses the viewer.
She has been acknowledged as one of the most important living artists to come out of Japan, the world’s top-selling female artist, and the world’s most successful living artist. At the age of 96, she is still working.
The art connoisseurs use many labels (that I don’t fully appreciate) to describe her work. They say “Her work is based in conceptual art and shows some attributes of feminism, minimalism, surrealism, art brut, pop art, and abstract expressionism, and is infused with autobiographical, psychological, and sexual content”. Wow! How’s that!
Her works in Part 1 begin with her early works that were inspired by the shapes and patterns of plants in her parent’s plant nursery in Matsumoto, Japan. After studying art in Kyoto, she moved to New York City in 1958 and was a part of the New York avant-garde scene throughout the 1960s, especially in the pop-art movement. Her art at this stage of her life was influenced by the rise of the hippie counterculture of the late 1960s.
It struck me as quite ironic that Yayoi was producing creative work in New York at the same time as I was involved in a destructive war in Vietnam.
She has had a series of mental health issues and has resided, since the 1970s, in a mental health facility by choice. She says that art has become her way to express her mental problems.
I have to say that I didn’t enjoy many of the works in Part 1 as much as the art and immersive rooms in Part 2 of the exhibition. They were stunning and provide a reason for anyone to visit the NGV before this exhibition closes in April.
A major highlight of the exhibition are the works that create a series of rooms with different impressive immersive installations.
These rooms also include her infinity mirror rooms that ingeniously use mirrors to create the visual illusion of infinite space.
Yoyoi summarised her exhibition at the gallery with these words.
