Estimate
TWD 40,000,000-60,000,000
HKD 10,283,000-15,424,000
USD 1,327,600-1,991,400
CNY 9,434,000-14,151,000
Sold Price
TWD 51,840,000
HKD 13,606,299
USD 1,753,721
CNY 12,284,360
Signature
+ OVERVIEW
Polka dots are signals from the universe. A boundless net represents her life. The British daily The Times listed Yayoi Kusama among the Top 200 Artists of the 20th Century to Now. As one of the most influential avant-garde artists worldwide, Kusama is like her naked and burning artistic life, gorgeous and dazzling. Each day, she creates at an amazing speed. Utilizing means such as painting, sculpture, and performance art, and using surreal psychological studies, she presents the endless creativity in her head.
Yayoi Kusama utilizes the vibrant pumpkin to unleash a source of radiant energy. The imperfectly symmetrical pumpkin shape is more able to manifest the natural true self. Although the pumpkin appears in a static form, its abundant vitality has not been diminished. Kusama has been attracted to the round shape of pumpkins ever since she experienced hallucinations as a child talking to pumpkins at a farm. She copies their images to her motifs, eventually leading to her work, Pumpkin. With delicate brushstrokes, Kusama neatly paints dense black spots on the pumpkin, arranging the wavy dots into exquisite stripes, and giving the pumpkin a great level of appeal and energy. She believes that the wavy dots bear the shape of the sun, serving as a symbol of vitality and the world. Round, soft, colorful, oblivious, and unpredictable, the wavy dots have become a kind of movement that leads to a path of infinity. It is in this simple paranoia that she escapes her inner spiritual suffering, manifesting her raw illusions onto the canvas.
Observing the art of Kusama, viewers cannot help but feel an explosion of surprise and joy due to its visual sensory impact. However, that strong artistic language serves as the crystallization of the artist’s personal hardships. Those sufferings did not diminish her devotion to her art. What is commendable is that she bore that unbearable suffering, transforming her hallucinations into unique and strong ideas, erasing them one at a time with her brushstrokes to create a fascinating space and mood. Examining the painter’s fantastic spiritual world, they transform into her most dazzling and popular creations.
Modern & Contemporary Asian Art
Ravenel Spring Auction 2020 Taipei
Sunday, July 19, 2020, 2:30pm