Jess Beare 1.3.19Theory Into Practice Essay

Yayoi Kusama - ‘All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins’

Yayoi KusamaAll the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins, 2016Wood, mirror, plastic, acrylic, LED(Victoria Miro Gallery, 2019)

‘All the Eternal Love I have for the Pumpkins’, is one of the more recent works in a long line of experiential ‘Infinity Mirror’ installations by Yayoi Kusama. Kusama’s work has always explored themes of infinity, narcissism and art as a lived experience by using materials which generate illusions, but it is only recently that she has found universal fame, a life-long goal that has until now eluded her. Ever since the 1960s Kusama has probed the idea of the viewer as celebrity; in ‘Peep Show’, 1966 the viewer gazed upon their own reflection presented as a “star” - a precursor to today’s world where anyone can be famous on social media, but furthermore this was one of the first instances of “advertis[ing] life as art to an audience outside the confines of the contemporary art community” (Hoptman, Tatehata and Kultermann, 2000, P59). In this installation, despite being surrounded by the simultaneously natural and surreal forms of pumpkins, it is “the viewer [who] is cast as the [real] subject of the work”. (Victoria Miro Gallery, 2017).

Kusama created this environment from wood, mirror, plastic, acrylic and LED lights - she uses these materials to conjure the illusion of infinity, allowing the viewer a brief insight into her perennial hallucinations. Kusama’s work “explore[s] the optical and psychological potential of the mirrored surface as a means of transcending the limits of the physical world” (Victoria Miro Gallery, 2018). As quoted in the book, ‘Yayoi Kusama’ the artist herself writes, “like Alice, who went through the looking glass, I, Kusama (who have lived for years in my … room entirely covered by mirrors) have opened up a world of fantasy and freedom.” (Hoptman, Tatehata and Kultermann, 2000, pg.116). Today, the glittering illusion of eternity invoked by floor-to-ceiling mirrors lends an

‘Instagrammable’ quality to Kusama’s work, however where Kusama is obsessed with Polka dots and Pumpkins, the modern audience is obsessed with themselves - works such as ‘All the Eternal Love I have for the Pumpkins’ “attract hordes of selfie-seekers oblivious to her efforts on canvas” (Smith, 2017). Tim Adams writes in The Guardian that galleries are exploring the idea of exhibitions as an “uploadable social media experience”, but argues that the “smartphone-friendy nature of the work… should only lead to a deeper understanding of Kusama’s career’ (Adams, 2018). Kusama’s art has always seamlessly blended mass culture with high art; Roberta Smith describes her in the New York Times as simultaneously an “Instagram darling” and “an almost frighteningly fertile talent” (Smith, 2017) - and social media only helps to spread her name across the globe. Being held in such high regard by both the critics and the general public leads us to wonder, is she “the world’s favourite artist?… she says she has always wanted Kusama to be everywhere… the Internet has granted Kusama that wish”(Adams, 2018). Despite being notorious for the naked “happenings” she staged in the 1960s, Kusama faded from the public consciousness only to re-surface within the last decade or so, directly coinciding with the rise of social media. This transformation is documented by the numbers of tickets sold at her exhibitions: Scott Wright is quoted as saying “practically no one came” to the Victoria Miro Show in 1998, whereas the 2018 show saw 80,000 visitors (Adams, 2018). Kusama has “captured the zeitgeist of this very particular moment” (Bloomberg Markets and Finance, 2018) and her eventual rise to fame has been successful because she did not create her work with Instagram in mind, only self-obliteration.

Kusama overtly discusses vanity in her 1966 piece ‘Narcissus Garden’, whereas in ‘All the Eternal Love I have for the Pumpkins’, the message is much more subverted: ‘Narcissus Garden’ was a comment on the vanity of the art world and the “economic undercurrent of international exhibitions like the Venice Biennale” (Hoptman, Tatehata and Kultermann, 2000, Pg 64), but today the vanity is more evident in the art-goers - the general public who pose for selfies in their 30-second time slots in Kusama’s Infinity Rooms such as ‘All the Eternal Love I have for the Pumpkins’. A photograph by Vincent Tullo for the New York Times shows people have dressed to match Kasuma’s artwork for the perfect photo opportunity. The irony is that they are standing among the same reflective silver balls as used in ‘Narcissus Garden’. So why spend the few precious seconds you are granted with the artwork taking a selfie when there is so much more to

Naked Happening and Flag Burning, Brooklyn Bridge, New York, 1968. Hoptman, Tatehata and Kultermann, 2000, Pg 24)

see - infinity, in fact? Maybe the clue is in the title of this particular installation - ‘Let’s Survive Forever’ - everybody, including Kusama, wants to leave their mark on Earth - everyone wants to be immortal, famous. Nonetheless, this vanity is exactly what has catapulted the artist into fame: it is certainly how I first discovered her: through other people’s selfies on Instagram.

Kusama’s art-making practice acts as a sanctuary for her, “it is the vitality of an artist who lives to work, whose work keeps her alive” (Smith, 2017). In an interview with Akira Tatehata, Kusama describes her work as “salvation through self-obliteration,” (Hoptman, Tatehata and Kultermann, 2000, Pg.14) a theme which is recurrent throughout Kusama’s entire body of work. Kusama’s use of repetition, whether this is of Polka dots or pumpkins reflected in mirrors, should evoke a feeling of wonder and smallness, so are the museum-goers who use her work as selfie opportunities missing the point? The artist uses the metaphor that “Our Earth is only one tiny Polka Dot among many millions of others… we must forget ourselves with Polka dots… we must lose ourselves in the ever-advancing stream of eternity” (Hoptman, Tatehata and Kultermann, 2000, Pg.

Narcissus Garden, 1966Plastic mirror ballsInstallation, XXXIII Venice BiennaleThe Artist selling mirror balls to passers-by.Hoptman, Tatehata and Kultermann, 2000, Pg 63)

‘Infinity Mirrored Room — Let’s Survive Forever,’ 2017. (Vincent Tullo for The New York Times, 2017)

92). However, it seems to me that the opposite is happening now when people visit Kusama’s installations: rather than losing themselves in the artwork, the artwork becomes about themselves in a way that is slightly more grotesque than in ‘Peep Show’ (1966). This free publicity is great for Kusama, of course, and for the galleries.

The symbol of mirrors has always represented vanity in traditional art, but Yayoi Kusama has updated this idea for a modern audience, with “immeasurable yet intimate” installations (Victoria Miro Gallery, 2018). This theory relates to my project as I am also incorporating mirrors into my work. Even though when I look at the way a modern audience interacts with Kusama’s work, I see vanity as a very present theme, the actual themes Kusama is discussing run much deeper than that. In fact, I wouldn’t say her current work is about vanity at all - as the title suggests, ‘All the Eternal Love I have for the Pumpkins’ represents love and nature and wonder. Kusama has never been very concerned with displaying her work within the white walls of a gallery - for her it has always been more about participation of the public and art as a lived experience for all: it is up to you how you interact with it. With the advent of social media, she has fully realised this goal and her art has truly become for everyone to experience, inspiring awe in visitors of all ages. Kusama’s total disregard for the established art world is very refreshing; she cares only about the feelings her work evokes - this is something I am going to take forward into my own practice.

Kusama cleverly uses light to create her own universe, welcoming anyone and everyone into it; this has given me the idea of creating an installation with the broken mirror I already own, and projecting images or videos onto it. I’d like to create a small, three-walled room for people to walk into and watch the images bounce off the mirrors and themselves. The fact that people consistently take selfies when they enter into Kusama’s installation environments suggest that they are ignoring the artist and the meaning behind her work, causing the strange juxtaposition of enhancing Kusama’s fame by making the viewer a celebrity for a minute. On the other hand, art history up until now has been very much about the artist - maybe it is time for art to become more experiential and about the audience, everyone, rather than one individual, and this is the central idea I am aiming to take forward for the installation I will make next week.

Yayoi Kusama, Peep Show, 1966Hoptman, Tatehata and Kultermann, 2000, Pg 61)

Bibliography:

Adams, T. (2018). Yayoi Kusama: the world's favourite artist?. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/sep/23/yayoi-kusama-infinity-film-victoria-miro-exhibition [Accessed 1 Mar. 2019].

Bloomberg Markets and Finance (2018). The Inexhaustible Creations of Yayoi Kusama | Brilliant Ideas Ep. 53. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reVBAbo5VU8 [Accessed 1 Mar. 2019].

Hoptman, L., Tatehata, A. and Kultermann, U. (2000). Yayoi Kusama. Hong Kong: Phaidon.

Phaidon (n.d.). Yayoi Kusama 'Peep Show' 1966. [image] Available at: https://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2017/october/19/when-yayoi-kusama-created-her-first-ever-infinity-room/ [Accessed 3 Mar. 2019].

Smith, R. (2017). Yayoi Kusama and the Amazing Polka-Dotted, Selfie-Made Journey to Greatness. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/03/arts/design/yayoi-kusama-david-zwirner-festival-of-life-review.html [Accessed 1 Mar. 2019].

Tullo, V. (2017). Infinity Mirrored Room — Let’s Survive Forever by Yayoi Kusama. [image] Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/03/arts/design/yayoi-kusama-david-zwirner-festival-of-life-review.html [Accessed 1 Mar. 2019].

Victoria Miro (2019). All the Eternal Love I have for the Pumpkins. [image] Available at: https://www.victoria-miro.com/artists/31-yayoi-kusama/works/artworks22521/ [Accessed 3 Mar. 2019].

Victoria Miro. (2018). Yayoi Kusama’s Narcissus Garden is featured in Space Shifters at the Hayward Gallery. [online] Available at: https://www.victoria-miro.com/news/1071 [Accessed 1 Mar. 2019].