Executed in 2011, A-PUMPKIN (CHA) is a resplendent, flawlessly executed archetype from Yayoi Kusama’s oeuvre – a test.mes nt to almost nine decades of astonishing dedication to creation, technique, and a singular artistic vision. In the background, Kusama’s all-over scaled tessellations – an iconic iteration of the artist’s most distinctive infinity net motif employed often within her pumpkin paintings – are so tightly and dexterously woven that the canvas hums with the rhythmic intensity of the pattern. The pumpkin itself, anthropomorphic and brilliantly luminous, presents the legendary artist at the height of her powers: each gleaming circle shimmers and vibrates; each meticulously crafted row of multi-striated dots throbs and slithers fluidly down the body of the gourd. Supremely unparalleled in terms of quality of execution and the disorienting yet.mes smerizing complexity of pattern and form, A-PUMPKIN (CHA) is an undeniable magnum opus of one of the most legendary figures of contemporary art.

As universally emblematic of Kusama’s oeuvre as the Campbell’s soup can was to Andy Warhol’s, the pumpkin is deeply central to the artist’s psyche, and its origins within her art can be traced back to her most early years. In 1948, three years after the war ended, a 19-year-old Kusama enrolled in a fourth-year course at the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts. “During my t.mes in Kyoto I diligently painted pumpkins”, wrote the artist, “which in later years would become an important theme in my art” (Kusama Yayoi, Infinity Net: The Autobiography of Yayoi Kusama, trans. Ralph McCarthy, Tate Publishing, 2011, p. 75). Kusama recalls having consumed the vegetable endlessly to the point of nausea in her childhood years during and after the war; in spite of this, she retains a fond attachment to its organic bulbous form, describings it as embodying a “generous unpretentiousness” and “solid spiritual balance” (Ibid., p. 76). Already experiencing hallucinations at the t.mes , involving pumpkins that spoke to her in a most animated manner, Kusama found the gourd a benign and nurturing subject – as opposed to the more traumatic and menacing feelings she associates with flowers, plants and objects that plagued her throughout her life.

Kusama’s early pumpkins were painted with traditional Nihonga materials, which she left behind after her move from Matsumoto to New York in 1958. Within only eighteen months of her arrival, Kusama stunned the New York art scene with her radical Infinity Nets in 1959, executed in the Western medium of oil, which were followed by her Accumulation soft sculptures in 1961. In 1965 Kusama infused explosions of colour into her sculptures through the use of dotted and striped fabrics; by this t.mes , the sheer breadth, scale and ambition of her diverse cross-media oeuvre had taken over the city like an epidemic. Her ubiquitous polka-dot and net motifs, manifested in mesmeric paintings, immersive rooms, hypnotic installations, body art and participatory performances, forged a wholly unique aesthetic that articulated a rigorous, overwhelming language of obsession and obliteration – a language that enabled the artist to combat her hallucinatory mental illness. The artist reflects: “I use my complexes and fears as subjects. I make them and make them and then keep on making them, until I bury myself in the process. I call this ‘obliteration’” (Kusama Yayoi, cited in Mignon Nixon, ‘Infinity Politics’, in Francis Morris (ed.), Yayoi Kusama, Tate Publishing, 2012, p. 180).

After an explosive rise to fame in New York in the 1960s, Kusama retreated into a psychiatric hospital in Japan in 1975, withdrawing into a period of semi-obscurity whilst quietly amassing a prolific body of work. It was during this t.mes that Kusama revisited her earlier pumpkin motif, combining her signature all-over Nets and obliterating polka-dot aesthetic with the theme of her favourite gourd. During the 1980s Kusama explored colourful variations of her pumpkin-pattern in two-dimensional paintings, drawings and prints; over the years her rendering of pumpkin ‘skin’ grew ever more deft and accomplished, with the flowing lines of dots advancing and receding rhythmically in a fastidios usly precise yet dynamically organic manner. Even the seemingly blank or ‘undotted’ segments are overlaid with miniscule specks, contributing to a complex and intensely laborious configuration that pulsates and disorients with energy akin to that of Op art paintings.

Towards the latter half of the 1980s, Kusama began exhibiting more frequently at exhibitions around the world. Appreciation for Kusama’s work grew steadily, and in 1993, her international revival was made official when she was invited as the first solo artist and first woman ever to grace the Japanese pavilion at the 45th Venice Biennale. For the occasion, Kusama constructed Mirror Room (Pumpkin), consuming the entire interior of the pavilion in an immersive floor-to-ceiling extravaganza of black-on-yellow polka dots. At its centre was a dazzling mirrored room filled with pumpkin sculptures, echoing her seminal 1966 Infinity Mirror Room—Love Forever whilst introducing the theme of the pumpkin. Tatehata Akira, the commissioner of the Japanese Pavilion, also organized a mini-retrospective of Kusama’s career to accompany the newly commissioned installation. Five years later in 1998, coinciding with the creation of the present two lots, another major milestone was reached when Kusama became subject of the defining solo exhibition “Love Forever: Yayoi Kusama 1958-1968” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1998, which subsequently travelled to the Museum of Modern Art in New York

The present A-PUMPKIN (CHA) was created in 2011, by which t.mes Kusama had become a global household name. The artist’s international resurgence and rise to global stardom occurred in parallel with – and was inextricably tied with – her iconic pumpkin motif. It was to pumpkins that Kusama turned for solace during her period of reclusion, and it was with pumpkins in mind that she set about creating a work for her momentous Venice Biennale comeback. The pumpkin stands as a symbol of triumph for the artist’s personal as well as artistic rebirth, representing a mediation of the artist’s psychiatric illness that went hand-in-hand with the ever-increasing sophistication, dexterity and creativity of her creations. As Alexandra Munroe writes, Kusama’s art requires her “not only to surrender to madness but also to triumph over it; trauma must be substantially transformed before it can communicate to others as beauty and meaning” (Alexandra Munroe, ‘Between Heaven and earth: The Literary Art of Yayoi Kusama’, in Exh. Cat. Love Forever: Yayoi Kusama 1958-1968, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1998, p. 81).

《南瓜（CHA）》作於2011年，宏麗奪目，光彩照人，畫面繁密嚴謹，是草間彌生南瓜畫中的佼佼佳作，見證藝術家在將近九十年的人生裡，不怠創作和專注磨礪技法的努力，以及舉世無雙的藝術視野。滿佈背景的格狀「無限網」是草間的招牌圖案，經常與南瓜相伴出現。這些網格紋緊密有序地互相交織連接，畫布彷彿與圖案律動時的節奏共鳴。南瓜的色彩鮮明亮麗，幾乎像具有靈性一般，展現這位傳奇藝術家的旺盛創造力。每一個光澤柔潤的圓圈皆在閃閃發亮、蠢蠢欲動，每一行精心細繪、排列整齊的圓點在南瓜表面顫動下滑。《南瓜（CHA）》畫面完美無瑕，圖案與形態複雜交錯，令人目眩神迷，展現出無與倫比的精細畫工，無疑是這位當代藝術界奇才的傳世鉅作。

一如《金寶湯罐》之於安迪・沃荷，南瓜是草間彌生藝術的代表圖案。南瓜是草間的自我寫照，她對南瓜的依戀始於童年時，日後即以它為創作對象。二戰結束三年後，十九歲的草間於1948年開始修讀京都市立工藝美術學校的四年課程。她曾寫道：「我在京都的時候已極力繪畫南瓜，後來南瓜更成為我的重要創作主題」（草間彌生，《無限網：草間彌生自傳》，譯：拉爾夫・麥卡錫，泰特出版社， 2011年，頁75）。草間回想起兒時經歷的戰爭及戰後時期，她以南瓜為食，每日所餐別無他物，直至作嘔反胃。然而，她仍對其自然而生的球莖形狀深深著迷，帶來「寬厚謙遜」的感覺，流露出「實在的靈性和諧」（同上註，頁76）。藝術家當時已受幻覺影響，她發現南瓜活靈活現地跟她說話。花朵、植物與其他事物通常令她聯想到傷害與威脅，一生飽受困擾；南瓜卻恰恰相反，在她眼中看來親切仁慈，有如守護蔭庇。

草間早期的南瓜以傳統日本畫媒材繪成，自其於1958年從松本移居紐約後，她便摒棄這種創作形式。身處紐約短短十八個月，草間於1959年以西方油彩創作革新的《無限網》，便令紐約藝壇為之哄動。其後她於1961年創作軟雕塑《Accumulation》。她於1965年運用圓點及條狀布料，為其雕塑增添繽紛色彩。她的各種跨媒材創作展示純粹徹底的廣度、規模與目標，如同病毒蔓延，風行整個紐約。在動人的畫作、深陷的空間、迷幻的裝置、人體藝術以至參與式表演，她的圓點與網紋無處不在，創造出獨一無二的美學，表現「迷戀」與「消融」的語言，細緻縝密，且排山倒海，氣勢浩大，讓她得以對抗幻覺之苦。她說：「我直接把自身問題和恐懼當作創作題材...... 我不斷將圖案重複再重複，直至我完全沉浸在整個過程中為止。我將之稱為『消融』」（引述自草間彌生，米尼翁・尼克遜，<無限政治>，載於弗朗西斯・莫里斯編，《草間彌生》，泰特出版社， 2012年，頁180）。

草間於六十年代在紐約迅速成名，其後於1975年退居日本一所精神病院。縱然多年來默默無聲，她住院期間仍創作不輟，悄悄累積了大量藝術作品。她就在當時重拾早期喜愛的南瓜題材，並融入標誌性的「無限網」以及自我消融的圓點美學。草間於八十年代以平面油畫、素描及版畫探索南瓜圖案的色彩變化。歷年來，她筆下的南瓜外皮愈見精煉嫻熟，透過一絲不苟而又生動自然的創作方式，圓點更加流暢飽滿，收放自如。即使看來空置或「無點」的部分，實是佈滿微小的斑點，締造錯綜複雜、繁複嚴謹的構圖，如同幻視藝術，力量強烈，律動澎湃，縱橫交錯。

時至八十年代中後期，草間的作品開始遍及世界各地的展覽，稱譽與日俱增。她於1993年回歸國際藝壇，以首位獨立藝術家及女性藝術家的身份，獲邀參加第45屆威尼斯雙年展，為日本展館爭光。她將整個展館建構成《鏡屋（南瓜）》，從地板到天花板盡是黃底黑點的迷幻盛宴。炫目迷人的鏡屋以滿佈的南瓜雕塑為中心，帶出南瓜主題的同時，更與其1966年的創新鉅作《無限鏡屋──永恆的愛》遙相呼應。當時的日本展館策展委員建畠晢為草間舉辦小型回顧展，展出特別委託而作的全新裝置作品。五年後的1998年，草間創下是次呈獻的兩件作品，同年她得到洛杉磯藝術博物館邀請，舉辦極具意義的個展「永恆的愛：草間彌生1958-1968年」，展覽其後更移師至紐約現代藝術博物館舉行，為其藝術生涯奠下重要里程碑。

《南瓜（CHA）》創作於2011年，當時「草間彌生」已經成為一個家諭戶曉的名字。南瓜主題的孕育誕生與她重獲國際關注、躋身為舉世藝術名家的時間互相吻合，兩者息息相關。草間隱居之時，從南瓜得到慰藉；重返藝壇之際，當她為重要的威尼斯雙年展構思創作，她腦海中亦盡是南瓜。南瓜象徵草間在精神和藝術上的重生，代表她從精神病困擾中得到紓解，而這個過程與她在創作中不斷提升的複雜和靈巧程度相輔相成。如孟璐所說，草間的藝術創作「不僅要向瘋狂投降，還要將之征服。創傷必先要全然轉化，方可在人前呈現美感與意義」（孟璐撰，<天地之間：草間彌生的藝術>，載於《永恆的愛：草間彌生1958-1968年》展覽圖錄，洛杉磯藝術博物館，1998年，頁81）。