.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Yayoi Kusama’s Standing in the Women’s World is from the artist’s My Eternal Soul series, which is a series of acrylic on canvas paintings that she began in 2009. The paintings are reminiscent of and built upon her signature style of nets and dots, seen in celebrated works such as The Obliteration Room (2002-present). The My Eternal Soul paintings prove stunning in their aesthetic appearance, and Standing in the Women’s World is a pivotal example of the beautiful complexity and historical relevance that this series holds. They display a semi-figurative, surrealist combination of brilliant colors, (biomorphic) shapes reminiscent of nature and living organisms, lines that intertwine with the “intricate, hieroglyphic-like patterns of eyes, faces in profile, flowers, phallic shapes or amoebas” (C. Taft, “Dashing into the Future: Kusama’s Twenty-First Century”, in Yayoi Kusama (Revised and Expanded Edition), London, 2017, p. 175). Now in her nineties, Kusama’s tremendous oeuvre reveals an artist who continues to successfully push the boundaries of contemporary art.
Painted in 2012, Standing in the Women’s World visually stimulates the viewer, as it displays biomorphic life forms, fragmented facial profiles, polka dots and almond shaped eyes. There is “no closure, only circularity, which itself functions as both a metaphor and a fact of life” (J. Sorkin, "Yayoi Kusama's Ornamental Urgency", in Yayoi Kusama: Festival of Life, exh. cat., David Zwirner, New York, 2018, p. 11). The orange-red, bright blue and black colors contrast with the mustard yellow background and highlight the somewhat psychedelic patterns. The combination of the forms within the work itself speaks to the significant role that her mental illness and hallucinations coupled with her expansive imagination play in her artistic process. There are no closures or limitations, the continuation is endless, illustrating her exploration of infinity, in addition to her relentless pursuit to blur boundaries between her body and space.
At a young age, she first noticed signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder and began to experience hallucinations. She developed a passionate work ethic and strategy that allowed her to essentially authenticate her originality through her illness, by visualizing her hallucinations, transcribing her visions into her artworks. Kusama has consistently been outspoken in her beliefs dating back to the 1960s. She rejected assumptions about her work, displayed resistance to patriarchal domination and the pressures of social conformity at the forefront of her aggression. Standing in the Women’s World is a pivotal example of the way she created her art as a form of psychedelic expression, that could at same time evoke her societal frustrations. “Much has been written recently about Kusama’s bold and prescient confrontation with feminist issues before the vocabulary of feminist critique was born. Kusama’s militancy, though, goes beyond essentialist feminism and into sexuality itself” (L. Hoptman, "Yayoi Kusama: A Reckoning", in Yayoi Kusama, London, 2000, p. 55).
Yayoi Kusama is one of the most prolific and renowned female artists of our time; a trailblazer and pioneer in her craft, who shatters all expectations and constantly evolves in her stylistic expression. As a young child, she was trained in the style of Japanese nihonga painting and eventually combined it with what she learned about Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art and Minimalism. After moving to New York City in 1957, Kusama was an appropriator of American popular culture, and her experience amongst different artistic movements allowed her to create a movement of her own. Perhaps most well-known for her tremendous success with her Infinity Nets series, and polka dots, Kusama has been linked to numerous artists also known for their boundary-shattering art; performance artist Yoko Ono, pop artist Andy Warhol and minimalist artist, Agnes Martin. While living and working in New York, Kusama was “likened to different art movements, trends and tendencies, some of which, a priori, clashed with one another. She has accordingly been severally described as a Surrealist, and a pop artist” (Yayoi Kusama, Janvier, p. 47). This directly ties to her impressive ability to create a body of work that supersedes any singular art movement, and transcends toward something of a limitless, ubiquitous nature, a movement of her own.
Painted in 2012, Standing in the Women’s World visually stimulates the viewer, as it displays biomorphic life forms, fragmented facial profiles, polka dots and almond shaped eyes. There is “no closure, only circularity, which itself functions as both a metaphor and a fact of life” (J. Sorkin, "Yayoi Kusama's Ornamental Urgency", in Yayoi Kusama: Festival of Life, exh. cat., David Zwirner, New York, 2018, p. 11). The orange-red, bright blue and black colors contrast with the mustard yellow background and highlight the somewhat psychedelic patterns. The combination of the forms within the work itself speaks to the significant role that her mental illness and hallucinations coupled with her expansive imagination play in her artistic process. There are no closures or limitations, the continuation is endless, illustrating her exploration of infinity, in addition to her relentless pursuit to blur boundaries between her body and space.
At a young age, she first noticed signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder and began to experience hallucinations. She developed a passionate work ethic and strategy that allowed her to essentially authenticate her originality through her illness, by visualizing her hallucinations, transcribing her visions into her artworks. Kusama has consistently been outspoken in her beliefs dating back to the 1960s. She rejected assumptions about her work, displayed resistance to patriarchal domination and the pressures of social conformity at the forefront of her aggression. Standing in the Women’s World is a pivotal example of the way she created her art as a form of psychedelic expression, that could at same time evoke her societal frustrations. “Much has been written recently about Kusama’s bold and prescient confrontation with feminist issues before the vocabulary of feminist critique was born. Kusama’s militancy, though, goes beyond essentialist feminism and into sexuality itself” (L. Hoptman, "Yayoi Kusama: A Reckoning", in Yayoi Kusama, London, 2000, p. 55).
Yayoi Kusama is one of the most prolific and renowned female artists of our time; a trailblazer and pioneer in her craft, who shatters all expectations and constantly evolves in her stylistic expression. As a young child, she was trained in the style of Japanese nihonga painting and eventually combined it with what she learned about Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art and Minimalism. After moving to New York City in 1957, Kusama was an appropriator of American popular culture, and her experience amongst different artistic movements allowed her to create a movement of her own. Perhaps most well-known for her tremendous success with her Infinity Nets series, and polka dots, Kusama has been linked to numerous artists also known for their boundary-shattering art; performance artist Yoko Ono, pop artist Andy Warhol and minimalist artist, Agnes Martin. While living and working in New York, Kusama was “likened to different art movements, trends and tendencies, some of which, a priori, clashed with one another. She has accordingly been severally described as a Surrealist, and a pop artist” (Yayoi Kusama, Janvier, p. 47). This directly ties to her impressive ability to create a body of work that supersedes any singular art movement, and transcends toward something of a limitless, ubiquitous nature, a movement of her own.