The once antiseptically bare rooms soon become psychedelically colorful as viewers vicariously experience the dot-filled hallucinations that have plagued Kusama since childhood. A reiteration of her signature interactive work, exhibited around the world since 2002, Obliteration Room comprises a nondescript domestic backdrop awash in stark-white paint.Įach guest to enter the gallery is presented with brightly colored dot stickers and invited to plaster them anywhere they please-on the sofa, the kitchen cabinets, the coffee table, the teapot, or even the grand piano. In addition, fun and quirky polka dot signage helped guide us through the exhibit and or learn more about each individual art piece.Publicly deranged artist Yayoi Kusama is bringing her dotty otherworld to the United States for the first time with an exhibition of Obliteration Room at New York City’s David Zwirner Gallery. The entrance and front of the museum were covered with giant bright red dots and the gift shop was also full of dotted merchandise. Kusama’s visual identity was represented all over the museum, making a statement of her creative presence. Transitioning from pop art to pop culture, her unique style has created a personal brand. To play off the name, the stickers really had the desired effect and in some cases completely obliterated the forms of objects placed around the room, like an optical illusion, only showing up as you moved around (or almost stumble on them).Įach room features plenty of Instagram-able moments and it was exciting to enter, camera ready, and experience the Infinite.Īs graphic designers, we found it interesting how Kusama has made a such a strong visual identity for herself. It’s fun to see what was once a sterile room completely filled with dots of other participants, all looking for interesting places to leave their mark. Upon entering, you receive a sticker sheet of dots and are directed to place them anywhere you choose throughout the room. The final room, called Obliteration Room, takes guests from viewer, to participant. Within this space, the actual Infinity room is built into one of the pink spheres. There was one exception to this, however, Dots Obsession – Love Transformed into Dots, is a large open space showcasing giant pink dotted spheres from floor to ceiling. From the outside you see a very minimal white 10×12 box, offering no indication of what’s inside. Most fascinating is how compact and mysterious the Infinity rooms are. Each room of the exhibit creates a unique and interesting play of space, from vast fields of polka dots to the inside of a lava lamp, to weightless floating expanses of glowing lanterns. Her sculpture, Life (Repetitive Vision), which highlights her signature polka dot motif, was featured prominently in the exhibit.Īs you move through the exhibit, you are prompted to enter smaller “Infinity” rooms. When entering the exhibit, you are greeted with some of Kusama’s oldest and newest work including sculptures, paintings, and more. Inspired by abstract impressionism, she moved to New York City in 1958 and joined the avant-garde art scene of the 1960s that sparked the pop-art movement. Starting at the age of ten, Kusama painted dot and net motifs as a way of dealing with mental health issues she faced. Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama, is a self-described “obsessional artist,” known for her extensive use of polka dots and infinity installations. The day tickets were released to the general public, people across the city waited in queues of up to 14,000 people in an attempt to grab a ticket to the acclaimed show. Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrors exhibit made its last touring stop in Atlanta at the High Museum of Art.
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