Artist gives nature a ‘cosmic’ twist in big N.Y. garden show

The large, brightly colored art installations of Japanese artist part of expansive show

An expansive new show featuring works by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, famous for mesmerizing polka dots, speckled pumpkins and fascination with the natural world, has opened at The New York Botanical Garden. Ticket sales have been brisk in a pandemic-weary city hungry for more outdoor cultural events.

“Kusama: Cosmic Nature,” postponed by a year due to the coronavirus, will remain on view through Halloween.

Most of the artworks are outdoors and are big enough to enjoy while remaining socially distanced. Visitors will want to wear their walking shoes; the show features multiple galleries, installations and gardens. Elaborate flower displays complement some of the works, which are scattered over the 250-acre botanical garden in the Bronx.

The setting could not be more suitable for Kusama’s multifaceted works, all of which relate in various ways to the world of nature. Having grown up in the greenhouses and fields of her family’s enormous seed nursery in Matsumoto, Japan, Kusama has always focused her work on the natural world, says guest curator Mika Yoshitake.

“For Kusama, cosmic nature is a life force that integrates the terrestrial and celestial orders of the universe from both the micro- and macrocosmic perspectives,” Yoshitake says.

When Kusama was young, she began having vivid hallucinations, some of which involved polka dots or flowers spreading around her.

“Some people get stuck on the polka dots. Her work has a sort of internal sadness combined with an external joy, which really speaks to the current moment,” says Karen Daubmann, vice president for exhibitions and audience engagement at the garden.

Three galleries in the Conservatory feature horticultural celebrations of Kusama. Towering polka-dotted flowers in “My Soul Blooms Forever” (2019) greet visitors in the palm gallery. Nearby, the pink and gold mosaic “Starry Pumpkin” (2015) is surrounded by woodland flowers and foliage in complementary pastels.

Photos by Mark Lennihan / Associated Press People walk by one of Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkin sculptures at the New York Botanical Garden April 8 in New York. The expansive exhibit has opened, and ticket sales have been brisk in a pandemic-weary city hungry for more outdoor cultural events.

The sculpture “Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees” by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is on display. The expansive exhibit has opened, and ticket sales have been brisk.

The sculpture “I Want to Fly to the Universe” by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is reflected in a pool at the New York Botanical Garden on April 8.