The Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama has unveiled her latest immersive, Instagram-friendly Infinity Room at Victoria Miro gallery in Wharf Road, London (The Moving Moment When I Went to the Universe; 3 October-21 December). Installation view of The Moving Moment When I Went to the Universe. Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai and Victoria Miro, London/Venice. © Yayoi Kusama
The gallery, which is anticipating thousands of visitors, has introduced a timed ticket system (80,000 visitors attended the last Kusama show there in 2016); four people at a time will be able to experience the large mirrored room littered with polka dot paper lanterns for around a minute (My Heart is Dancing Into the Universe, 2018). As of Monday morning (1 October), all tickets for October had already sold out. Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room - My Heart is Dancing Into the Universe (2018). Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai and Victoria Miro, London/Venice. © Yayoi Kusama
The show also includes paintings from the artist’s ongoing series My Eternal Soul, depicting forms that resemble eyes, faces and biological cells. Three bronze pumpkin sculptures painted red, yellow and green are also on view. The pumpkin—a signature motif of Kusama’s—appeals because of its “generous unpretentiousness”, she wrote in 2011. “That and its solid spiritual balance.” Installation view of The Moving Moment When I Went to the Universe. Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai and Victoria Miro, London/Venice. © Yayoi Kusama
The exhibition coincides with UK release of a film about the artist’s life, entitled Kusama-Infinity (from 5 October) which charts Kusama’s career from her time in New York dating from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, and her return to Japan in 1973 (in 1977, she admitted herself to a psychiatric hospital in Tokyo). Installation view of The Moving Moment When I Went to the Universe. Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai and Victoria Miro, London/Venice. © Yayoi Kusama
Last October, the Japanese artist opened her own museum in Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward. Meanwhile, commuters travelling on the new Elizabeth line across London will be able to see Kusama’s first permanent installation in the UK, entitled Infinite Accumulation, at Liverpool Street from 2020. Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room - My Heart is Dancing Into the Universe (2018). Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai and Victoria Miro, London/Venice. © Yayoi Kusama
The artist told The Observer newspaper: “Long ago, I decided that all I could do was express my thoughts through my art and that I would continue to do this until I died, even if no one was ever to see my work. Today, I never forget that my art works have moved millions of people all around the world.” Installation view of The Moving Moment When I Went to the Universe. Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai and Victoria Miro, London/Venice. © Yayoi Kusama
A first peek at Yayoi Kusama’s newest Infinity Room in London
Exhibition of Japanese artist's work that opens later this week has already sold out for October
Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room - My Heart is Dancing Into the Universe (2018). Courtesy Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai and Victoria Miro, London/Venice. © Yayoi Kusama