Earlier this month a collection of five works by Yayoi Kusama from the last 20 years were sold for $22.9million during a recent auction at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong. It ranks among one of the artist’s highest auction sales to date. But you don’t have to pay millions to see the most critically acclaimed creations of the 93-year-old contemporary artist.
Yayoi Kusama is one of the most celebrated contemporary artists of our time
Tate Modern presents a rare chance to experience two of Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms. These immersive installations will transport you into the artist’s unique vision of endless reflections.
Infinity Mirrored Room – Filled with the Brilliance of Life is one of Kusama’s largest installations to date and was made for her 2012 retrospective at Tate Modern. This colourful, dot-filled space with changing lights is perfect for a social media savvy.
It is shown alongside Chandelier of Grief, a room which creates the illusion of a boundless universe of rotating crystal chandeliers.
Be prepared to queue for the entrance to each room and get your camera ready as the time inside each space is limited to 5 minutes.
The exhibition will also feature small presentation of photographs and moving image – some on display for the first time to provide historical context for the global phenomenon that Kusama’s mirrored rooms have become today.
About Kusama
The nine decades of Yayoi Kusama’s life have taken her from rural Japan to the New York art scene to contemporary Tokyo, in a career in which she has continuously innovated and re-invented her style.
Well-known for her repeating dot patterns, her art encompasses an astonishing variety of media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, film, performance and immersive installation. It ranges from works on paper featuring intense semi-abstract imagery, to soft sculpture known as ‘Accumulations’, to her ‘Infinity Net’ paintings, made up of carefully repeated arcs of paint built up into large patterns.
Since 1977 Kusama has lived voluntarily in a psychiatric institution, and much of her work has been marked with obsessiveness and a desire to escape from psychological trauma. In an attempt to share her experiences, she creates installations that immerse the viewer in her obsessive vision of endless dots and nets or infinitely mirrored space.
Kusama’s Infinity Rooms are staying in residence for another full year, departing Tate Modern in April 2024.
Image credits: © Tate (Joe Humphrys)
