ART CITIES:Santiago-Yayoi Kusama

 

‘’Obsesión Infinita’’ titled the retrospective of Yayoi Kusama (born 1929), a massive survey of more than 100 works created between 1950 and 2013. It includes her abstract paintings of the 1950, made just prior to her move to New York in 1957 the “soft sculptures” that followed her move, and her friendships with Donald Judd, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg and Joseph Cornell and the famous happenings of the late 60’s.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Victoria Miro Gallery Archive

It was in these years that Kusama became known as “The Polka Dot Princess”, for her obsessive use of polka dots in installations and performances. In 1973 she returned to Japan, and in 1977 settled voluntarily in a psychiatric clinic where she has continued to make performances and installations. Alongside color reproductions, this volume includes archival photographs of Kusama performances and portraits of the artist from the many periods of her career. The most captivating facet of the exhibit is Kusama’s glorious representation of infinity, described through two installations. ‘’I’m Here, But Nothing’’– a dark room filled with furniture and flourescent polka-dots that illuminate the space with the help of ultraviolet lighting-is Kusama’s gift, a scene from our dreams. Beyond this fantastical, hallucinatory room, her oneiric universe continues as viewers are treated to their own piece of infinity–the exhibition concludes with ‘’Infinity Mirrored Room-Filled with the Brilliance of Life’’. Constructed from floor to ceiling mirrors with only hundreds of L.E.D. lights that constantly shift colour configuartions to break the darkness, this piece can be seen as the foremost expression of Kusama’s fascination with infinity and endless vision.

Info: “Yayoi Kusama: Obsesion Infinita”, Fundacion CorpArtes, Rosario Norte #660, Las Condes, Santiago, Duration: 7/3-7/6/15, Days & Hours: Mon-Sun: 10:00-19:00, www.corpartes.cl