Viewing Yayoi Kusama in the New York Botanical Garden

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is one of the most popular living artists working today. Her distinctive work sells for million-dollar sums at auction and can be found in private and public collections around the world.

Now she is the subject of a long awaited-solo exhibition (postponed in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic) at The New York Botanical Garden. Installed across the Garden’s 250-acre landscape, in and around the Conservatory and in the Library Building, Cosmic Nature explores the artist’s lifelong fascination with the natural world.

The exhibition brings together works from across Kusama’s prolific career, including her signature polka-dotted organic forms and vibrant paintings of plants and flowers. On display for the first time are Dancing Pumpkin (2020), a monumental bronze sculpture painted in black and yellow; and Flower Obsession, Kusama’s first-ever obliteration greenhouse in which visitors can apply floral stickers to the furniture and household objects.

‘Nature is not only a central source of inspiration but also integral to the visceral effects of Kusama’s artistic language in which organic growth and the proliferation of life are made ever-present,’ says the exhibition’s guest curator Mika Yoshitake.

With seasonal displays complementing the artworks on view, there has never been a better time to explore the most comprehensive botanical garden in the world.