One of Yayoi Kusama's iconic polka-dot pumpkins came to Hong Kong in 2018. But if you missed it, here's a second chance to sign on the dotted line.
M+'s chief curator Doryun Chung, who co-curated the exhibition with Mika Yoshitake, said: "Kusama is one of the most significant and visionary artists of our time. M+, as the first Asia global museum of visual culture, feels that she perfectly embodies that Asian position with global perspectives and experiences -which is why we decided that she is, without a doubt, the artist that we want to make the first special exhibition with."
The young Kusama found her escape through art, finding calm and healing through sketching nature.
Despite opposition from her family, she moved to the United States in pursuit of her dreams from 1958 to 1973. With female modernist artist Georgia O'Keeffe one of her role models, Kusama eventually made her name through her quirky creativity.After 15 years in the West, she decided to return to Japan - only yo find her deeply rooted mental illnesses surfacing again and she had to be warded in a psychiatric hospital. But she never stopped making art. Even now, at the age of 93, she continues to paint and sculpt in her studio near the hospital
"We want to highlight how she always connects her struggles with the therapeutic power of art-making. That is why she obsessively makes art; it's her force of life," said Chung.For a great artist so abundant in personal stories and artistic techniques like Kusama, there have already been several retrospectives around the world. But the last one happened 10 years ago.
So for this M+ show, Yoshitake believes what they' have curated is the first full-scale scholarly investigation into the artist in Asia outside of Japan.The show is not only about Kusama's iconic polka dots. More than 200 exhibits ranging from paintings, installations, sculptures, drawings and collages to moving images, and other archival materials, are all over M+'s West Gallery, Main Hall, Found Space and The Studio, offering a comprehensive view of how changeable yet masterly her style can be.
The special exhibition is arranged thematically and chronologically in a way that reflects the journey Kusama has been through since her childhood, whether in her evolutionary art or the inner and outer demons she's to fight.The themes are Infinity, Accumulation, Radical Connection, Biocosmic, Death and Force of Life.
In the West Gallery, the main exhibition space, is a collection of self-portraits Kusama has created throughout her career, including Self-Portrait from 1950 and Portrait painted in 2015.The abstract Self-Portrait shows a sunflower-like face above brightly painted lips, while Portrait depicts the artist more realistically with polka dots attached all over the face and body.
This style of covering the paintings with polka dots can be traced back to Kusama's early days in Japan when she had her mother sketched in her notebook at 10 years old using the same technique.And this particular idea actually came from Kusama's own hallucinations, in which her sight would sometimes be layered with dense fields of dots.
The Infinity Mirrored Room series shows the immersive environment she would decorate with mirrors to bring endless reflections. On show at M+ is Dots Obsession - Aspiring to Heaven's Love, created in 2022. Because of safe-distancing requirements, time in the infinity room is limited to 20 seconds and queuing may be required.Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now will be on view at M+, West Kowloon Cultural District, until May 14. Complementing the exhibition are different public programs, publications and shops on- and off-site.
