Kusama Yayoi (b.1929) is considered to be one of the most important artists in contemporary art history. She is welcomed with open arms around the world and her art work is hot property on the art market. But what exactly is it about her art work that enthralls us so?

We do not have to search far to find an answer. We are rendered speechless; we simply, and intuitively, feel. Whoever you are, wherever you come from, whichever religion you turn to, Kusama’s work allows us to transcend these cultural and regional boundaries. Since being a young artist in her twenties, she has developed her art using various materials and media

Even in her eighties, she does not stagnate. She still vigorously strives to create new work. If her early work is considered more as a philosophical experiment, her later work seems to project a clearer message. In the end, what she was pursuing was extending her artistic scope: seeking the boundary between reality and fiction, life and death, the finite and infinity.

These artistic interests are deeply related to the paranoiac psychological state that she has suffered with throughout her life. For that reason, her work acts as a refuge from the insecurity, suppression, and obsession that plague contemporary man as well as herself, suggesting a new direction towards a new art world.

The exhibition featuring her representative and recent work is more meaningful in terms of offering a space for people to experience and feel, rather than simply watch. We hope that many viewers could experience not only Kusama Yayoi’s art world, but also feel at the center of the contemporary art scene.

This exhibition, starting from Daeugu Art Museum, is planned to tour Seoul Arts Center, Shanghai, and Taipei. The exhibition will offer a special opportunity to show Kusama Yayoi’s most recent works in one place that have been shown in world leading museums such as Tate Modern in England, Pompidou Center in Paris, and Whitney Museum in New York.

Collaboration between Yayoi Kusama and QueenslandArt Gallery.Commissioned Queensland Art Gallery. Gift of theartist through the Queensland Art GalleryFoundation 2012Collection: Queensland Art Gallery, AustraliaPhotograph: QAGOMA Photography

*image (left)
With all my love for the tulips, I pray forever, 2012
Mixed media, variable dimension
Copyright of Yayoi KusamaCourtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo / Singapore,Victoria Miro, London, David Zwirner, New York,Yayoi Kusama Studio Inc.

Courtesy of Daegu Art Museum