Whist in Singapore, we were pleased indeed to be able to visit the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the National Gallery. Curated by Mr Russell Storer, the National Gallery’s deputy director and curator Adele Tan, this exhibition took visitors on a journey of exploration of one of the world’s most influential artists.
This impressive exhibition was the first in its kind for Southeast Asia, and saw an impressive 120 paintings, sculptures, videos and installations from Yayoi Kusama, taking visitors from the 1950s right through to the present day.
Due to its global appeal, the exhibition itself its particularly poignant. Examining the impact Yayoi Kusama’s work has had on a global level, and the maverick boundary pushing nature of her work, the pull of such an experience saw an immediate and substantial response.
This did not, however, detract in any way from our experience, as being surrounded by lovers of Yayoi Kusama, and art lovers in general, is always a wonderful learning experience and we thoroughly enjoyed taking in others reactions to her work.
“Her work is so incredibly sensory and colourful that you almost can’t help but regress to almost a child-like state of joy and awe whilst taking it in.”
The work itself is certainly intriguing, the psychedelic colours and nature of her work truly shines as an extension of her as a person, and it’s very humbling to see someone put their inner-most thoughts and feelings up on display for the world to see in the most creative of ways. It is provocative, hypnotic and encapsulating all at the same time.
Yayoi Kusama’s story of psychological trauma from a young age is the true inspiration behind the artwork she produces, which makes for conflicting emotions. You can feel her struggle in every inch of her work and yet, at the same time, her work is so incredibly sensory and colourful that you almost can’t help but regress to almost a child-like state of joy and awe whilst taking it in.
It is no wonder that, according to a survey of museum attendance conducted by The Art Newspaper, Yayoi was named as the world’s most popular artist in 2015. We feel very fortunate that we were able to experience this exhibition, and would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Singapore.
