Yayoi Kusama
Yayoi Kusama Pumpkins (Set of Two)
c. 2015

About the Item

Yayoi Kusama Set of Two Pumpkins: Yellow and Black / Red and White circa 2015: An iconic, vibrantly colored pop art set - these small Kusama pumpkin sculptures feature the universal polka dot patterns and bold colors for which the artist is perhaps best known. Kusama first used the pumpkin at the 1993 Venice Biennale for the Japanese pavilion and since then it has appeared worldwide in various iterations, to ever rising acclaim and popularity. Medium: Painted cast resin. 3.94 x 3.35 x 3.35 inches (10 x 8.5 x 8.5 cm). Dimensions apply to each individual. Each accompanied by their original box; excellent overall condition. Kusama copyright stamped on underside; each from an open edition of unknown size. Published by Bennesse Holdings Japan. "Named 'the world's most popular artist' in 2015, it's not hard to see why Yayoi Kusama continues to dazzle contemporary art audiences globally. From her signature polka dots—to her mirror-and-light Infinity Rooms, Kusama's multi-dimensional practice of making art elevates the experience of immersion. Kusama's practice is so unique, it often transcends the aesthetics and theories of many late twentieth century movements, including Pop Art and Minimalism. Kusama first honed her punchy cosmic style in New York City in the 1960s. During this period, she staged avant-garde happenings, which eventually thrust her onto the international stage with a series of groundbreaking exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in the 1980s and the 45th Venice Biennale in 1993. She continues to churn out paintings and installations at inspiring speed, exhibiting internationally in nearly every corner of the globe, and maintains a commanding presence on the primary market and at auction." (source: Phillips) “The polka dot,” the artist wrote in 1978, “has the form of the sun, which is a symbol of the energy of the whole world and our living life, and also the form of the moon, which is calm. Round, soft, colorful, senseless and unknowing, polka-dots become movement. . .polka dots are a way to infinity...”

Creator:
Yayoi Kusama (1929, Japanese)
Creation Year:
c. 2015
Dimensions:
Height: 4 in (10.16 cm)Width: 3.4 in (8.64 cm)
Medium:
Resin
Movement & Style:
Pop Art
Period:
1960-1969
Condition:
New in original packaging.
Gallery Location:
NEW YORK, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU354311629982
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Yayoi Kusama

Widely inspirational and innovative artist Yayoi Kusama has a body of work that is exceptionally varied, ranging from graphic prints and paintings to polka-dot pumpkin sculptures, hypnotic collages, large-scale installations and fashion design.

Even if you don’t know her name, you’ve likely experienced Kusama’s art — or have seen it on Instagram. Her soft sculptures and dazzling “Infinity Mirrors” are the stuff of selfie-takers’ dreams, but Kusama’s impressive decades-long career certainly holds far more cachet than it does fodder for today’s aspiring social-media influencers.

Born in Matsumoto, Japan, in 1929, Kusama has worked with her signature polka dots since the age of 10, when she began to experience vivid hallucinations and claimed that patterns and dots were moving around her, swallowing up everything in view. She started to incorporate them into her paintings as a child. Kusama saw circular forms and nets on every surface and became especially fascinated with the pebbles that lined the bottom of the creek near her childhood home. Her family was sternly opposed to her art and her mother physically abused Kusama and discouraged her at a very early age. She has suffered psychological turmoil her whole life and is vocal about her mental illness. Today, Kusama is a voluntary resident at a psychiatric facility in Tokyo, and she calls her work “art medicine.”

At the Kyoto School of Arts and Crafts, Kusama trained in Nihonga, a traditional style of Japanese painting that originated during the Meiji period. On advice she solicited from painter Georgia O'Keeffe, a pioneer of modernism in America whom she greatly admired, she subsequently moved to New York City in 1958. There, Kusama flourished, creating prescient sculptures and large-scale monochrome paintings that bridged current styles with minimalism, which hadn’t yet achieved any kind of prominence as an art movement. She pushed boundaries with her “Accumulations” series, which saw her transforming found furniture pieces into sexualized objects, as well as with an avant-garde staging of theatrical orgies on the street — both stemming from her anxieties about sex as well as an endeavor to make a feminist statement about patriarchal authority and sexism.

Kusama was captivated by Surrealists as well as the Abstract Expressionists and greatly influenced the Pop artists who followed, befriending such icons as Donald Judd — who called her work “the best paintings being done” — and Andy Warhol, with whom she exhibited and later accused of stealing her ideas. Kusama moved with ease through artistic circles and made a point to draw attention to her “otherness” as a Japanese woman by wearing kimonos to her openings.

In 2021, Kusama brought her floral and vegetal sculptures to the New York Botanical Garden and her works can be found in the collections of many of the world’s top museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. She famously collaborated with Louis Vuitton in 2012, and she created a 34-foot-tall balloon for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in Manhattan in 2019, becoming the first female artist to design a work for the event. In addition to her visual artwork, Kusama is a writer, publishing poetry, novels and an autobiography.

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