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Yayoi Kusama's 'Cosmic Nature' Exhibit Coming To New York Botanical Garden
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 22, 2019
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YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo / Singapore / Shanghai; Victoria Miro, London; David Zwirner, New York
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 22, 2019
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Famed multimedia Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama has brought several of her hypnotizing, thought-provoking installations to the city in recent years, including "Narcissus Garden," in which 1,500 mirrored stainless steel spheres were erected in the Rockaways last year, and her infinity mirrored rooms in Manhattan back in 2013. She's got something big coming to NYC in 2020 as well: a multi-sensory installation at The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) that is part retrospective, part new work.
KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature, which will be spread out throughout the NYBG, will include works from throughout her career and multifaceted practice, and debut new works created by the artist including a site-specific pumpkin sculpture and her first-ever participatory greenhouse installation. According to a press release, the exhibit will focus on Kusama's engagement with nature, and in particular, through the lens of the changing seasons from spring to fall.
Kusama’s profound engagement with nature will be represented in depth, with multiple installations, including her signature mirrored environments and organic forms, colossal polkadotted sculptures of flora, mesmerizing paintings, and her first-ever participatory greenhouse installation. Sketchbooks from her youth portend Kusama’s lifelong fascination with the natural world that has inspired her aesthetic throughout her prolific career.
“The Garden is uniquely suited to present this once-in-a-lifetime display of Yayoi Kusama’s work for our visitors," said NYBG president Carrie Rebora Barratt. "An exceptional selection of work invites visitors into her universe, to consider her practice through her unique vision of the natural world. Our subtitle, Cosmic Nature, references her bold investigations of materiality, media, color, form, and pattern that proliferate into an expansive sense of becoming with the cosmos. We are thrilled to mount this focused survey of the work of one of the most influential artists of our time.”
The exhibit will open to the public Saturday, May 9th, 2020, and run through Sunday, November 1st, 2020. Tickets for members go on sale January 15th, and to the general public January 29th; get more ticket info here.
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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