KUSAMA YAYOI Summer

• LOT

  817

• Artist

  KUSAMA YAYOI ( 1929 - )

• Estimate

  6,800,000 - 8,800,000 340,000 - 440,000 357,895 - 463,158 1,360,000 - 1,760,000 45,333 - 58,667

  JPY RMB HKD TWD USD

• Result

  JPY15,000,000

• Details

  acrylic on autograph board　framed　1983
  signed and dated
  titled, dated and signed on the reverse
  accompanied by a registration card for work issued by Yayoi Kusama Inc.
  
  Provenance: Takeda Art Co., Ginza
  This work, Summer, created in 1983, stands as a significant example of Kusama Yayoi's mid-career oeuvre. The composition is suffused with a soft, mist-like texture through which flickering fields of red and black emerge. Across the entire canvas, a network of repetitive mesh-like patterns unfolds—a direct continuation of Kusama's iconic "net paintings," a motif she has pursued since the 1960s. The juxtaposition of red and black evokes a symbolic tension: red conjures passion, vitality, and inner energy, while black suggests the enveloping presence of shadow and anxiety. These chromatic elements, layered atop a shimmering ground, offer a vivid manifestation of Kusama's inner psychological landscape, deeply informed by her personal experiences with hallucinations and obsessive visions. The title, Summer, further emphasizes the work's evocation of heightened internal heat and seasonal intensity, conveying both emotional elevation and a sense of overflowing psychic force. Produced during the early 1980s, shortly after Kusama returned to Japan following her time in the United States, this work marks a period of renewed artistic focus. It reflects a crucial phase in which the artist turned inward, exploring the boundaries between fantasy and reality, self and cosmos, body and mind. Summer embodies the essential themes that have defined Kusama's lifelong artistic pursuit—repetition, infinity, and the dissolution of boundaries. As such, it not only represents a high point of her mid-period output, but also crystallizes the aesthetic and conceptual concerns that have come to define her unique vision. It is a deeply compelling and visually resonant example of Kusama's enduring legacy.　
  
  KUSAMA YAYOI is one of the most prominent avant-garde artists of postwar Japan, known for her diverse body of work spanning painting, sculpture, installation, performance, and literature. In 1957, she moved alone to the United States and began working from New York. During the 1960s, she gained attention for her use of polka dots and repetitive motifs, intersecting with movements such as minimalism, pop art, feminism, and anti-war activism, and earned international acclaim.
  Kusama's works frequently feature repeated motifs like polka dots, net patterns, and pumpkins—elements rooted in her hallucinations and obsessive thoughts. These motifs blur the boundaries between self and universe, reality and fantasy, creating immersive experiences. Her artistic language is deeply connected to her lifelong struggle with mental illness, and she has described art as "a means to survive."
  Her works are housed in major institutions around the world, including the Dallas Museum of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, and the Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka. Kusama is regarded as one of the most renowned and influential female artists of our time.
  
  68.0×35.8cm
  (26 ¾ × 14 ⅛ in)　

• Organizer

  Jo's Auction

• Auction

  Jo’s Auction Autumn Auction of Art Works 2025

• Catalog

  Contemporary Art/Modern&Post-War Art

• Date

  2025/10/23