A little over a year since her mega-retrospectives at London's Tate Modern and New York's Whitney, the wonderful and elusive Yayoi Kusama is back in the spotlight with an exhibition of new works at David Zwirner's West 19th Street gallery. Encompassing 27 new large-scale paintings, two mirrored infinity rooms and a video installation, 'I Who Have Arrived in Heaven' is a fantastic summation of Kusama's most recent efforts, which mostly discuss her ever-encroaching reality: death.
Speaking via a translator at the press preview, Kusama, who donned a yellow polka-dot dress from her collaboration with Louis Vuitton, mused: 'In my career, I have always had to climb uphill. I have always survived because of everyone's kindness and kind understanding of my works, and the support of the people around me. Now as I approach death, I'm still full of big hope that we all have the power to spread love and peace, and I can do so with my work.'
Indeed Kusama's latest paintings, which exceed six sq ft and fill two of the gallery's three exhibition spaces, are vibrant, animated depictions of basic life forms. Seas of eyes, rows of human profiles and primitive faces swirl together in the artist's frenetic style, with the odd injection of thick, snaking arteries carrying smaller circular shapes. Each canvas is filled with colours across the spectrum, bestowing the work with a joyous, wondrous spirit.
The notion of mortality hits home in Kusama's newest mirrored installation. Unveiled for the first time, Infinity Mirrored Room - The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away is a cube lined with mirrored panels and a reflecting-pool floor that rebound multicoloured light from suspended LEDs. The lights flicker on and off repeatedly, evoking the dual sentiments of time standing still and going on forever.
In the gallery's third space, another mirrored infinity room, Love is Calling, shown earlier this year at the Mori Art Museum's 10th Anniversary, holds court with its multicoloured polka-dot tentacles filling the darkened space. Adjacent is the 2010 video projection Manhattan Suicide Addict, which sees Kusama performing a song in front of an animated slideshow of her paintings.
This baring of past hardships, like numerous suicide attempts and her current residence in a mental health institution, make Kusama's current message of optimism all the more poignant. The epic show marks her debut at David Zwirner, whom she joined earlier this year after leaving the Gagosian Gallery.
Encompassing over 30 new large-scale paintings, two mirrored infinity rooms and a video installation, the exhibition is a bold summation of Kusama’s most recent efforts, which mostly discuss the ever-encroaching reality of death. In 'Infinity Mirrored Room - The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away' (pictured), 2013, suspended LEDs reflect off mirrored surfaces and the floor
Kusama's latest paintings, which exceed six sq ft and fill two of the gallery's three exhibition spaces, are vibrant, animated depictions of basic life forms
Each canvas is filled with colours across the spectrum, bestowing the work with a joyous, wondrous spirit
'Dance Party Night', 2013
'Green Solitude', 2013
'Mystery of the Universe', 2013
Seas of eyes, rows of human profiles and primitive faces swirl together in the artist's frenetic style, with the odd injection of thick, snaking arteries carrying smaller circular shapes
'Pensive Night', 2013
'My Heart', 2013
'My Visionary Life', 2013
'Women in the Memories', 2013
'Where Is the Youth?', 2013
ADDRESS
David Zwirner Gallery
525 West 19th Street
New York
-
This Hyderabad live/work space is rooted in its leafy context, centred around an old neem treeIn Hyderabad, India, Soil & Soul Studio by Iki Builds is a blueprint for a conscious way of building, working and living
-
What is recycling good for, asks Mika Rottenberg at Hauser & Wirth MenorcaUS-based artist Mika Rottenberg rethinks the possibilities of rubbish in a colourful exhibition, spanning films, drawings and eerily anthropomorphic lamps
-
Jessica Anne Woodley’s ‘joyfully imperfect’ furniture seeks your inner childThe designer is launching GliFfY, a furniture studio offering playful forms that reflect on her personal growth
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekIt was a jam-packed week for the Wallpaper* staff, entailing furniture, tech and music launches and lots of good food – from afternoon tea to omakase
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been up to this weekThis week saw the Wallpaper* team jet-setting to Jordan and New York; those of us left in London had to make do with being transported via the power of music at rooftop bars, live sets and hologram performances
-
Photographer Geordie Wood takes a leap of faith with first film, DiversGeordie Wood delved into the world of professional diving in Fort Lauderdale for his first film
-
New book celebrates 100 years of New York City landmarks where LGBTQ+ history took placeMarc Zinaman’s ‘Queer Happened Here: 100 Years of NYC’s Landmark LGBTQ+ Places’ is a vital tribute to queer culture
-
A major Takashi Murakami exhibition sees the world in kaleidoscopic colourThe Cleveland Art Museum presents 'Takashi Murakami 'Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow', exploring outrage and escapist fantasy
-
Ai Weiwei’s new public installation is coming soon to Four Freedoms State Park‘Camouflage’ by Ai Weiwei will launch the inaugural Art X Freedom project in September 2025, a new programme to investigate social justice and freedom
-
Leonard Baby's paintings reflect on his fundamentalist upbringing, a decade after he left the churchThe American artist considers depression and the suppressed queerness of his childhood in a series of intensely personal paintings, on show at Half Gallery, New York
-
Desert X 2025 review: a new American dream grows in the Coachella ValleyWill Jennings reports from the epic California art festival. Here are the highlights
