E xecuted in 1994, the year following the artist’s monumental participation in the 45th Venice Biennale, Pumpkin (Lot 16) is a meticulously executed example of Yayoi Kusama’s most iconic motif, depicted on a delightfully small-scale. The pumpkin stands as a symbol of triumph for the artist’s personal as well as artistic rebirth, having been a central theme of Kusama’s seminal installation at the 1993 Venice Biennale in the artist’s Mirror Room (Pumpkin), which marked the first t.mes a woman had participated in the Japanese pavilion in a solo installation, covering the pavilion in an immersive floor-to-ceiling extravaganza of black-on-yellow polka dots. Since then, pumpkins have become one of the most recognizable icons of contemporary art today, of which the present painting is an excellent example.

Pulsating with the energy of Kusama’s technical precision, Pumpkin radiates in its paradigmatic dot pattern which runs down the center of the rotund pumpkin’s skin. Dots of various sizes cascade down the pumpkin, pushing forward and receding in different areas to create a distinct oscillating rhythm. Set against the vibrating net pattern, the form of the pumpkin emerges with a dazzlingly visual narrative that recalls the hypnotic illusions of Op Art. The flawlessly executed yellow net of the background is in further correspondence with the Infinity Nets series, which is, along with Kusama’s dots, the cornerstone of the artist’s work. Despite the commonality of Kusama’s most fertile subject, which the artist believes does “not do not inspire much respect” (Yayoi Kusama, Infinity Net: The Autobiography of Yayoi Kusama, trans. Ralph McCarthy, London 2011), the pumpkin becomes a site of meditative contemplation at the hands of Kusama’s adept artistic practice.

Embodying an iconic, charismatic and highly personal motif, Kusama’s early pumpkins were painted in the traditional Nihonga style of which she was formerly trained. Enrolling at the at Kyoto City Senior High School of Art in the late 1940s, Kusama described that “During my t.mes in Kyoto I diligently painted pumpkins, which in later years would become an important theme in my art” (Kusama Yayoi, Infinity Net: The Autobiography of Yayoi Kusama, trans. Ralph McCarthy, London 2011, p. 75). Following an explosive rise to fame in New York in the 1960s, Kusama returned to Japan in 1973, beginning to combine her signature all-over Infinity Nets and obliterating polka-dot aesthetic with the motif of the ubiquitous gourd. During the 1980s, Kusama explored colorful variations of her pumpkin-pattern in two-dimensional paintings, drawings and prints; the distinctive texture of the vegetable’s hardy skin growing ever more deft and accomplished, with the flowing lines of dots advancing and receding rhythmically in a fastidios usly precise yet dynamically organic manner.

Towards the latter half of the 1980s, Kusama began exhibiting more frequently around the world, with appreciation for her work culminating in the triumphant invitation to exhibit at the 45th Venice Biennale in 1993. The first solo woman artist to ever grace the Japanese pavilion, Kusama constructed Mirror Room (Pumpkin) to mark this momentous occasion, consuming a section of the pavilion in an immersive floor-to-ceiling extravaganza of black-on-yellow polka dots. At its center was a dazzling mirrored room filled with pumpkin sculptures, echoing her seminal 1966 Infinity Mirror Room—Love Forever installation whilst grandly introducing the theme of the pumpkin.

The pumpkin thus stands as a symbol of triumph for the artist’s international resurgence, of which Pumpkin, executed in Kusama’s signature pumpkin colour palette of yellow and black, is an exquisite iteration. Today, Yayoi Kusama is celebrated around the world, and her works can be found in the permanent collects ions of prominent international institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Gallery, London; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New
York; and 21^st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan, to name just a few. Test.mes nt to her continued, extraordinary success, Kusama was recently honored with a major retrospective, Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now, at Hong Kong’s M+ Museum, which will soon open at the Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain, from June – September 2023.

1 994 年，草間彌生以其最具標誌性的主題入畫，繪製出比例精巧的《南瓜》。在本作誕生的前一年，草間彌生獲邀參加第 45 屆威尼斯雙年展，而南瓜正是《鏡房（南瓜）》裝置的中心主題；黃底黑色的圓點從地板一路蔓延至天花板，鋪天蓋地覆蓋展館。這次參展不但標誌著草間以首位女性藝術家的身分在日本展館舉辦個展，而且亦象徵著她個人和藝術層面的重生，回歸藝壇，東山再起。自那時起，南瓜化身成現今當代藝術中人人皆知的圖案，而本作正是這個著名標誌的完美典例。

草間彌生這幅《南瓜》的經典圓點圖案彷彿透露光芒，展現律動的能量。圓點圖案由中心沿著南瓜飽滿的表面往外變小，南瓜在充滿魔力的漸變圖案中閃閃發亮，最大的黑色圓點在南瓜皮最顯眼的位置上出現，然後圓點越變越小，直到消融在南瓜的坑紋位置；僅憑兩種顏色，草間彌生就創造出具視覺深度的畫面。在似乎扭曲顫動的網紋圖案映襯下，南瓜的形狀在迷幻的視覺表現下浮現，效果猶如視幻藝術中令人深陷其中的視錯影像。而完美無瑕的黃色網紋背景進一步呼應《無限網》系列，這個系列與圓點一樣都是草間彌生創作生涯的基石，但藝術家本人卻覺得它們「沒有得到很大的重視」（草間彌生，引述自《無限的網：草間彌生自傳》，拉爾夫・麥卡錫英譯，倫敦，2011年），儘管如此，這無阻草間彌生以精湛的藝術造詣讓南瓜成為感悟哲理的場所。

草間彌生的南瓜是一個極具個人色彩和獨特魅力的經典主題，而她早期的南瓜作品卻呈現傳統日本畫的風格。在1940 年代後期，草間彌生入讀京都市立美術工藝學校，她憶述：「在京都生活期間，我一直埋頭畫南瓜，後來南瓜就成為我作品中的重要主題之一」（草間彌生，《無限的網：草間彌生自傳》，拉夫・麥卡錫英譯，泰特出版社，2011年，頁75）。草間彌生在1960 年代的紐約一舉成名，隨後在1975年回到日本，回國後，她開始將延綿無盡的「無限網」和圓點美學結合，為平平無奇的南瓜添上令人目眩神迷的圖案。1980年代期間，草間彌生以平面繪畫、素描和版畫創作出各種不同色彩的南瓜。隨著時間推移，南瓜皮上的獨特紋理越來越細緻入微，繪畫技巧越顯純熟；在精準細密而生動自然的筆功下，圓點匯聚成漣漪般的線條，收放自如，極具韻律。

1980年代後半期，草間彌生越來越常在世界各地參展，作品備受推崇，更在1993年獲邀參與第 45 屆威尼斯雙年展，成為史上首位在日本館展出的女性兼個人藝術家。草間彌生建造了《鏡房（南瓜）》來紀念這個重要時刻，讓部分展區從地板到天花板完全被無邊無際的黃底黑色圓點包圍；作品中央位置設有一間令人全鏡面的房間，呼應她1966年的藝術裝置《無限鏡房：無盡的愛》——這鏡房裡放滿南瓜雕塑，代表著南瓜主題正式誕生；直至1993年，南瓜再度成為草間彌生在全球嶄露鋒芒的象徵。

南瓜因此成為草間回歸國際藝壇的凱旋象徵，而以其招牌黃黑相間色調創作的《南瓜》正是草間的創作典範。草間彌生如今享譽國際，其作品被納入各知名國際機構的永久收藏，包括紐約現代藝術博物館、倫敦泰特美術館、紐約所羅門·R·古根漢美術館和日本金澤 21 世紀美術館。另外，香港 M+ 博物館最近亦舉辦了大型回顧展「草間彌生：一九四五年至今」，見證草間不輟創作、成績斐然；展覽將於 2023 年 6 月至 9 月在西班牙畢爾包古根漢美術館開幕。