Yayoi Kusama at the Gagosian Chelsea Art Gallery is an eye-opener
Yayoi Kusama at Gagosian Art Gallery is Asian Art in New York at its Best
The first thing to say here is that, in our not-so-humble opinion, the coolest piece of art currently showing at any Chelsea art gallery has to be Yayoi Kusama’s Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity, a brand-new, specially-designed, free-standing room in the back of the 24th Street Gagosian art gallery that we guarantee will make even the most jaded art-goer among you to let out a little “whoa.”
Some background: since childhood Yayoi Kusama has been plagued by at times debilitating obsessions, and hallucinations of nets and dots and flowers which blanket her entire world. No surprise, really, when you consider her work, beginning in the late 1950s with her mesmerizing Infinity Net paintings (huge pieces, some more than 30 feet long, completely covered with small, thickly painted loops); continuing with her massive, playful, polka dot pumpkin installations; and, more recently, her mirrored worlds, alive with light, that stretch on forever. In 2008, Yayoi Kusama she sold one of her pieces for $5,100,000, a record for a living female artist.
Yayoi Kusama turned eighty this year, and to help her celebrate, the Gagosian art gallery is currently staging major exhibitions of her work on both coasts, East and West. This Chelsea art opening show runs through June 27, so we suggest you get there as soon as you can.
One of Yayoi Kusama’s signature pumpkin rooms greets you immediately upon entering the Gagosian art gallery. In the main room there are about a dozen of her astonishing Net paintings, all created in the last year or so. And in the back, well, we don’t want to spoil anything. We’ll just say that, even if there’s a line, it’s totally worth it.
Yayoi Kusama at Gagosian
Yayoi Kusama at Gagosian Art Gallery runs through June 27. Gagosian is located at 555 West 24th Street, just east of 11th Avenue, and is open from Tuesday through Saturday, 10: a.m. until 6:00 p.m.
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