‘The poster girls for the globalisation of contemporary art’, ‘the polka-dot princess’, one of the world’s most famous female artists; call Yayoi Kusama what you will, there's no denying her omnipotence. Celebrating her achievements and talents, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, near Copenhagen, Denmark, is hosting the first large-scale exhibition of Kusama’s work in Scandinavia.
'In Infinity' is a true retrospective of the artist’s life, traversing her early watercolours to her psychedelic work in the 1960s, political commentaries from the 1970s and her later, Toyko-based pieces from the 1980s. A sprinkling of design and fashion – most notably collaborations with Louis Vuitton and Issey Miyake – make an appearance also. ‘The exhibition traces Kusama's lifelong interest in the concept of Infinity,’ explains curator Marie Laurberg, ‘which in her work figures both as a spiritual idea, a boundless universe and a psychological abyss.’
While Kusama’s early, avant-garde work in New York may be what shot her to fame, it is not the sole focus of this presentation. ‘The exhibition holds many works from the early period which were rarely if ever exhibited before,’ explains Laurberg. ‘It also focuses on the change in Kusama's artistic practice when she returned to Japan in the early 1970s.’ (Kusama famously returned to Japan for medical treatment to find her art was not embraced by her countrymen. She has since then voluntarily lived in a mental institution, keeping a studio nearby which allows her to continue working. Age has done nothing to slow down the octogenarian artist.) ‘Many of these works from her Tokyo period were never shown outside of Japan before,’ says Laurberg.
Most recent of all are the paints of the ongoing series My Eternal Soul, which Kusama started in 2009. ‘[It is] almost like a visual diary,’ says Laurberg. ‘These colourful paintings are composed horizontally, moving around the canvas in an associative, unbroken creative process, and in them you can trace many shapes and motives by which Kusama reconnects with her very earliest drawings.’
While there is no doubt that her immersive installations of endless dots, nets and mirrored spaces are a huge draw (they have previously drawn record-breaking crowds to exhibitions around the world, including London’s Tate, New York’s MoMA and Moscow’s Garage, to name a few) it is the astounding life this woman continues to lead that will inspire visitors to linger.
Infinity is a concept Kusama has explored for decades; it's one of perpetual fascination, ‘which in her work figures both as a spiritual idea, a boundless universe and a psychological abyss,’ explains curator Marie Laurberg. Courtesy of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
Whilst she is most famous for her early avant-garde practice in New York, the exhibition contains a range of works from her iconic career, much of which is unseen. Pictured: Kusama in the Infinity Mirror Room – Phalli's Field, New York, 1965.
Despite being well into her eighties, the eccentric artist shows no hint of slowing down – she still produces work from the mental institution where she voluntarily stays. Pictured: interior shot of Mirror Room (Pumpkin), 1991.
External shot of the Mirror Room (Pumpkin), 1991.
INFORMATION
‘Yayoi Kusama: In Infinity’ is on show until 24 January 2016
ADDRESS
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
Gammel Strandvej 13
DK 3050, Humlebæk
-
Jack White's Third Man Records opens a Paris pop-upJack White's immaculately-branded record store will set up shop in the 9th arrondissement this weekend
-
Designer Marta de la Rica’s elegant Madrid studio is full of perfectly-pitched contradictionsThe studio, or ‘the laboratory’ as de la Rica and her team call it, plays with colour, texture and scale in eminently rewarding ways
-
‘Nothing just because it’s beautiful’: Performance artist Marina Abramović on turning her hand to furniture designMarina Abramović has no qualms about describing her segue into design as a ‘domestication’. But, argues the ‘grandmother of performance art’ as she unveils a collection of chairs, something doesn’t have to be provocative to be meaningful
-
In ‘The Last Showgirl’, nostalgia is a drug like any otherGia Coppola takes us to Las Vegas after the party has ended in new film starring Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl
-
‘American Photography’: centuries-spanning show reveals timely truthsAt the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Europe’s first major survey of American photography reveals the contradictions and complexities that have long defined this world superpower
-
Miami’s new Museum of Sex is a beacon of open discourseThe Miami outpost of the cult New York destination opened last year, and continues its legacy of presenting and celebrating human sexuality
-
Sundance Film Festival 2025: The films we can't wait to watchSundance Film Festival, which runs 23 January - 2 February, has long been considered a hub of cinematic innovation. These are the ones to watch from this year’s premieres
-
What is RedNote? Inside the social media app drawing American users ahead of the US TikTok banDownloads of the Chinese-owned platform have spiked as US users look for an alternative to TikTok, which faces a ban on national security grounds. What is Rednote, and what are the implications of its ascent?
-
Architecture and the new world: The Brutalist reframes the American dreamBrady Corbet’s third feature film, The Brutalist, demonstrates how violence is a building block for ideology
-
‘Gas Tank City’, a new monograph by Andrew Holmes, is a photorealist eye on the American West‘Gas Tank City’ chronicles the artist’s journey across truck-stop America, creating meticulous drawings of fleeting moments
-
Intimacy, violence and the uncanny: Joanna Piotrowska in PhiladelphiaArtist and photographer Joanna Piotrowska stages surreal scenes at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania
