Infinite Expressions
THE POLKA DOT QUEEN MAKES HER DEBUT IN JAKARTA THROUGH THE “YAYOI KUSAMA: LIFE IS THE HEART OF A RAINBOW” EXHIBITION AT MUSEUM MACAN
Walking into one of Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity rooms, with its shimmering lights and endless reflection, is like stepping into outer space. It is an experience so immersive that, for a brief moment, you might feel that you’ve disappeared. Of course, that sensation doesn’t last for long as one can hardly step into the room without taking a 360-degree selfie video. But apart from it being an Instagram-worthy spot, this magnificent installation is actually a reflection of the artist and her journey as she battles with mental illness and hallucinations. In a way, stepping into the Infinity Room is like stepping directly into Yayoi Kusama’s ingenious mind.
In “Yayoi Kusama: Life is the Heart of a Rainbow” the artist’s journey becomes the focal point. Featuring over 130 works that covers a span of almost 70 years—with early works beginning from the 1950s—the exhibition focuses on the most important periods of her career and life, encompassing her signature elements of repetition and reflection.
Of course, her most iconic pieces are there, like the famed “Narcissus Garden,” “The Spirits of the Pumpkins Descended into the Heavens” and “Dots Obsession,” which grew out of the hallucinations Kusama suffered as a child, where she saw her surroundings covered with various repeating patterns.
Around that time, she began to paint in response to her hallucinations as well as her fears. Over the years, her anxiety, depression and hallucinatory disorders continue to suffuse her art; on her paintings, sculptures and installations, whether of flowers or phalluses. Kusama once said that without art, she would’ve commited suicide. In “Infinity Net: The Autobiography of Yayoi Kusama” she wrote: “I fight pain, anxiety and fear every day, and the only method I have found that relieves my illness is to keep creating art.”
Perhaps the most literal expression of this is through a video installation, “Song of a Manhattan Suicide Addict,” where Kusama sings to a poem amid a moving slideshow of her psychedelic artworks. Deeply meaningful lines such as “swallow antidepressants and it will be gone,” “tear down the gate of hallucinations” or “at the stairs to heaven, my heart expires in their tenderness” unveil the weight behind her deepest thoughts.
But what is even more beautiful than how she transformed her pain into art is how she has involved others to join in her journey of healing. Like the interactive “The Obliteration Room,” where you can participate in transforming a stark white interior with rainbow colored dots, Kusama’s works allows us to connect to, or rather disconnect, our idea of “self.” As she once said: “Obliterate your personality with polka dots. Become one with eternity. Become part of your environment. Take off your clothes. Forget yourself. Make love. Self-destruction is the only way to peace.”
So, before you reach for your phone, it will definitely be worth your while to take in the brilliance, the anguish and joy that is Yayoi Kusama. The exhibition is now open at Museum Macan, and will run until September 9, 2018.