Along with the warm weather comes Art in NYC. One of the most celebrated contemporary artists of our time, Yayoi Kusama unveils her latest works in one of her largest gallery exhibitions to date at 519, 525 & 533 West 19th Street in New York City.
One of the most influential artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Kusama occupies a unique position within recent art history. Since her early assimilation of pop art and minimalism in the 1960s, she has created a highly personal oeuvre that resonates with a global audience. Distinctly recognizable, her works frequently deploy repetitive elements—such as dots—to evoke both microscopic and macroscopic universes. Her highly influential career encompasses paintings, performances, room-size presentations, outdoor sculptural installations, literary works, films, fashion, design, and interventions within existing architectural structures.
Yayoi Kusama’s (b. 1929) work has been featured in both solo and group presentations worldwide. She presented her first solo show in her native Japan in 1952. In the mid-1960s, she established herself in New York as an important avant-garde artist by staging groundbreaking and influential happenings, events, and exhibitions. Her work gained renewed widespread recognition in the late 1980s following a number of international solo exhibitions, including shows at the Center for International Contemporary Arts, New York, and the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, both of which took place in 1989. She represented Japan in 1993 at the 45th Venice Biennale, to much critical acclaim. In 1998, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, co-organized Love Forever: Yayoi Kusama, 1958–1968, which toured to the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (1998–1999), and Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (1999).
Last December, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority unveiled new permanent floor-to-ceiling mosaics in the soon-to-open Grand Central Madison terminal. Kusama’s work spans roughly 875 square feet of glass and builds upon the artist’s My Eternal Soul series. The mosaic can be seen at the north end of the concourse between 46th and 47th Streets.
In April 2021, Kusama’s beloved polka-dot pumpkins, grand floral sculptures, and other stunning creations were installed at the New York Botanical Garden and remained on view for the entire summer. The highly anticipated exhibition marks a decade since her first exhibit with David Zwirner, according to the gallery.
For more information, visit https://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibitions/2023/yayoi-kusama-i-spend-each-day-embracing-flowers