“Given that nature is not merely a source of inspiration for Yayoi Kusama, but also integral to processing the effects of her artistic language, it’s all the more relevant to present her work in a garden setting,” says Mika Yoshitake, New York Botanical Garden’s guest curator of Kusama: Cosmic Nature.
The immersive exhibition of works by the celebrated Japanese contemporary artist opens on April 10, and will be installed in and around the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, across the garden’s 250 acres, and in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library Building.
“Collectively,” says Yoshitake, “the works trace the 91-year-old Kusama’s lifelong fascination with the natural world that began during her childhood, which she spent playing in the greenhouses and fields of her family’s plant nursery in Nakatsutaya.”
On view are the artist’s signature mirrored environments, early archival pieces that have never before been exhibited, and a quartet of new works executed last year. Among the latter is Flower Obsession, an interactive installation in which visitors will blanket the interior of a greenhouse in coral flower stickers.
Kusama: Cosmic Nature runs through October 31. Tickets for the show will be available online starting March 16 at nybg.org/kusama
