The artist’s iconic dots and vibrant colors create a kaleidoscope world for viewers
By SOFIA BOZZO —- arts@theaggie.org
Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist renowned for her use of dots within her work as a means to understand the world around her. Her newest exhibit in the San Francisco Modern Museum of Art (MOMA) titled “Infinite Love” focuses on the use of large-scale dots to create a microcosmic perspective, juxtaposing love and the universe.
The first room in the exhibit is called “Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love.” The viewer’s attention is immediately drawn to a large white box in the center of the room. The box features Kusama’s characteristic dots wrapping the exterior. A small door allows entrance into the box, opening up into a stunning, kaleidoscope-like world.
Originally constructed in the 1960s, the room is filled with infinity mirrors, reinforcing Kusama’s message surrounding her perspective of love as an infinite force. The room is truly awe-inspiring. With vibrant dots opening along the structure, Kusama captures a certain energizing tranquility ever present within her work.
Upon entering the second part of the exhibit, Kusama departs from her use of primary colors within the first room, using a striking neon palette instead. The room features various large tentacle-like sculptures that hang down from the ceiling, almost summoning the audience below. Additionally, the “tentacles” sprout from below at around seven feet tall, towering well above most. Almost menacingly, the sculpture present within the space departs entirely from the repose of the first room, demanding the attention of the viewer.
“LOVE IS CALLING” also features an audio of Kusama reading her own poem, steeped with messages of love, death, life and the universe. The exhibit certainly expresses the breadth of Kusama’s artistic abilities, reaching beyond her affinity for dots as her sole expressive artistic tool. While equally breathtaking, the atmosphere of this room was largely less tranquil than the last.
Despite the breadth of artistic mediums displayed within the exhibit, the brief experience felt like a rapid, one-dimensional look into the art of Kusama, leaving behind so much of her artistic sentiment and expertise. The exhibit is beautiful, and not to be missed, yet its brevity clouded my ability to fully enjoy the experience.
If you are previously aware of Kusama’s work, the installation provides a glorious, immersive look into her perspectives on love and life through her ever-so-famous and striking dots. The exhibit will be up until May 28.
Written by: Sofia Bozzo — arts@theaggie.org
