50 Years New in Asia: Yayoi Kusama

D azzling in its paradigmatic dot-covered pumpkin motif, Yayoi Kusama’s Pumpkin (L) (2014) is rare example of the artist’s highly coveted sculptural pumpkins. Beautifully materialised in bronze, the artist’s iconic striations of multi-sized polka dots meticulously encase the pumpkin from stem to base in an effusive and sophisticated pattern. Produced for the artist’s installation at the Victoria Miro Gallery in 2014, a significant year for Kusama whose work was the subject of three international museum exhibitions, this meticulously executed sculpture is the largest version of this series in bronze and the first of this monumental scale to be offered at auction. As the subject of Kusama’s first permanent public artwork in New York City, editions of the bronze Pumpkin (L) have been displayed in front of the Sky residency building in Manhattan, as well as the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park in Des Moines, Iowa.

Inspired by the matured pumpkin’s organic surface, Kusama’s stylised ribbons of multi-sized spots are most frequently depicted in yellow and black, making this iteration in bronze an exceptional example of the artist’s most fertile subject. Standing at over two metres tall, the exacting precision of Kusama’s skill can be felt throughout the biochromatic body of the sculpture, it’s monumental size and towering presence drawing attention to the undulating rows of meticulously placed dots. Going on to explore this form in a series of mirror-polished bronze pumpkins in 2016, the largest of these later works are equivalent to the Pumpkin (M) from the 2014 series, making the present work the largest of Kusama’s not coloured bronze pumpkins.

One of the most admired and universally recognisable images of contemporary art today, the pumpkin is central to Kusama’s widely celebrated oeuvre, appearing throughout the artist’s work from flat canvases and abstract paintings to gallery-wide installations. When asked by Damien Hirst in a 1998 interview, however, “Do you feel more like a painter, an artist, or a sculptor?”, Kusama simply replied “I feel more like a sculptor” (Damien Hirst and Yayoi Kusama, “Across the Water: Interview with Damien Hirst”, in Akira Tatehata, Laura Hoptman, Udo Kultermann, and Catherine Taft, Eds., Yayoi Kusama, London, New York 2017, p. 140). Kusama’s pumpkins are the embodiment of optimism, serenity and joy – a motif which the artist has repeatedly returned to for it’s “spiritual balance”, inspiration and motivation (Yayoi Kusama, trans. Ralph McCarthy, Infinity Net, Tate Publishing, London, 2011, p.76).

Redolent of her earlier paintings and prints, the engineering of the dot pattern on the great, curvaceous bronze Pumpkin (L) has evolved considerably from the earlier fibreglass pieces. This tremendous recasting sees larger dots occupying central positions and smaller dots towards the bottom and top of the piece, an effect which creates a sophisticated geometry and sense of bulging roundness. With energetic rows of dots flowing towards the pumpkin’s stem, the viewer’s eye is drawn upwards from the natural curves of the pumpkin itself.
 

Perhaps the most beloved of Kusama’s motifs, the artist began working with the pumpkin as early as 1948 whilst studying at the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts, beginning a life-long fascination with the subject. In 1993, the kabocha formed part of her presentation in the Japanese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, and in 1994 her iconic exterior sculpture of a large yellow and black pumpkin was sited at the Benesse Art Site Naoshima, the first of many sculptures Kusama would increasingly display throughout the 2000s at open-air sites.
 

Immersing the viewer within a landscape of limitless dots, the mesmerising Pumpkin (L) induces a state of untethered contemplation within Kusama’s fantastical, cosmic world. The bold, architectural stat.mes nt of this, the largest of Kusama’s bronze Pumpkins, is as physically dominating as it is delicate, a test.mes nt to Kusama’s artistic ambition. The bronze Pumpkin (L) is exemplar of Kusama’s unique ability to collapse the division between her own consciousness and the external world. Widely considered the most important artist to have emerged from Japan in the post-war period, Kusama has endured among the most emblematic and iconic artists of the last century and beyond. This year her work is being exhibited at Hong Kong’s M+ Museum in the artist’s largest retrospective in Asia outside of Japan, a test.mes nt to her enduring legacy as one of the greatest contemporary artists working today.

草間彌生的南瓜雕塑備受喜愛，圓點南瓜更幾乎是草間彌生的藝術標誌，但以青銅雕塑姿態呈現的《南瓜（L）》（2014），卻是十分罕見的南瓜系列作品。大大小小的圓點密佈南瓜表面、形成條紋，從上至下不絕地延展，形成姿態曼妙的圖案。此作由草間在2014年特別為維多利亞米羅畫廊（Victoria Miro Gallery）的展覧而創作，同年她先後在三間國際級博物館舉辦作品展。《南瓜（L）》屬同系列青銅雕塑中體積最大的一個，亦是歷來首次有如此巨型的南瓜銅雕登上拍場。作為藝術家首個位於紐約的永久公共藝術品，作品的其他版本曾分別於美國曼哈頓的天空大樓，以及愛荷華州德梅因藝術中心的約翰和瑪麗帕帕約翰雕塑公園亮相。

藝術家自熟透的南瓜皮外表得到啟發，將大小不一的圓點如條紋般佈滿南瓜表面，並大多以黃和黑為主色。今次難得在拍場現身的青銅南瓜雕塑，可說是草間彌生眾多南瓜作品中的典型。站在逾兩米高的植物染雕塑面前，凝神細賞箇中起伏的圓點行列，作品宏大的尺寸和存在感，令人充分感受到藝術家精準的技藝。往後藝術家繼續探索這藝術形態，出現了2016年一系列的鏡面拋光青銅南瓜雕塑，當中最大的一件，作品尺寸與2014年系列的《南瓜（M）》相約，令這拍品成為草間現存最大型的青銅南瓜作品。

草間彌生的南瓜，不但是當代藝術界最廣受愛戴的藝術圖騰之一，亦在藝術家的作品中有著舉足輕重的地位，長年以來反覆以不同形式呈現，當中包括平面、抽象油畫，以至佔據整個房間的藝術裝置等。在一次1998年的訪問中，當被達米恩·赫斯特問到：「你自覺是一位畫家、藝術家，還是雕塑家？」草間便直截了當地表示：「我覺得自己是位雕塑家。」（達米恩·赫斯特與草間彌生，「橫水之間：與達米恩·赫斯特訪談」，建畠晢、蘿拉·霍普特曼、伍德·庫特曼和凱瑟琳·塔夫脫編，《草間彌生》，倫敦，紐約，2017年，頁140）。草間的南瓜是樂觀、平靜和喜樂的化身，藝術家亦一直在它身上尋找精神平衡，成為了她靈感和動力的來源（草間彌生著，拉爾夫·麥卡錫譯，《無限的網》，泰特出版社，倫敦，2011年，頁76）。

《南瓜（L）》在豐腴巨大的青銅雕塑上滿佈圓點圖案的做法，一方面令人聯想起藝術家早期的油畫和版畫作品，另一方面亦是她較早前玻璃纖維作品的進化。在巨大的重鑄作品上，較大的圓點聚集在中央位置，並慢慢隨頂端和底部縮小；這構成一種巧妙的幾何形態，更加突顯了作品的圓潤觀感。活潑的點狀行列朝瓜蒂蔓延，吸引觀者視線隨南瓜的自然曲線往上方游移。

南瓜可謂草間最受人喜愛的藝術圖騰，她對南瓜繾綣一生的創作執迷，可追溯至1948年就讀於京都市立美術工藝學校的學生時期。在1993年，日本南瓜亦成為她在威尼斯雙年展日本館部分展出作品的主題。而在1994年，在日本直島的倍樂生之家美術館，草間彌生豎立了她標誌性的大型黃黑南瓜戶外雕塑，成為她2000年代在世界各地戶外展出作品的首例。

《南瓜（L）》以大片的無限圓點俘擄觀眾的身心，令人不受約束地沉浸在草間彌生的奇幻宇宙之中。作為藝術家最大型的青銅南瓜作品，它亦是一個大膽的建築宣言，既強橫亦纖細，全面反映出草間的藝術野心，同時突顯草間模糊自我意識與外在世界的獨特能力。自二十世紀至今，各門各派的藝術風格代表人物輩出，而草間的地位始終穩如磐石，無愧獲公認為日本戰後最舉足輕重的藝術家。今年香港M＋博物館舉辦「草間彌生：一九四五年至今」展覧，是草間彌生在日本以外亞洲地區最大型的回顧展，正好再一次證明她源源不絕的藝術創作力量，以及作為當今最偉大當代藝術家之一的傳奇地位。