The Queensland Art Gallery acquires rare Yayoi Kusama flower

Written by Dorothy Carpenter Monday, 07 May 2012 23:32

BRISBANE, AU- The Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art is set to take ownership of a rare flower sculpture created by leading international contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama, thanks to a very generous benefactor. Flowers that Bloom at Midnight finds direct precedence in a series of outdoor sculptures Kusama has executed over the past decade. Monumental in scale, these works consist of floral forms that are at once simplified and fantastical, and finished in polka-dotted planes of vivid colour. Their scale and alien appearance evokes a strange and overwhelming power. ‘The flower is one of a series of eighteen works, each of which is a unique edition. Opportunities to purchase a new work by Yayoi Kusama are extremely rare, and all other flowers to date have been acquired for collections.’

And Kusama’s The obliteration room installation at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), which has attracted global press and social media attention, is about to be recreated at London’s Tate Modern for a major retrospective of the artist’s work.

Queensland Art Gallery Director Tony Ellwood said the massive, brightly coloured flower sculpture was one of four in Kusama’s Flowers that bloom at midnight installation on display as part of the exhibition ‘Yayoi Kusama: Look Now, See Forever’, at GOMA until March 11.

‘We are delighted that Gallery benefactor Win Schubert has supported in full the acquisition of this work for the Gallery’s permanent Collection, via the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Diversity Foundation,’ he said.

‘The Queensland Art Gallery’s collection of this wonderful artist’s work is now one of the most significant in a public museum outside Japan.

‘The purchase of the stunning sculpture was only made possible through the Gallery’s ongoing relationship with the artist and her studio.

Mr Ellwood said The obliteration room installation resulted from a collaboration between the artist and the Queensland Art Gallery for the 2002 Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, and has recently been a gift to the Gallery from Kusama. ‘GOMA’s exhibition of Kusama’s work has been very popular, and the international response to The obliteration room, in which visitors cover a completely white room with millions of multicoloured dot stickers, has been unprecedented,’ he said.

‘We are pleased that the work will now be included in the major retrospective opening at the Tate Modern this month.

‘Yayoi Kusama, who is in her 80s, is one of the most significant and influential artists working today and her work remains relevant and innovative,’ he said.

‘Yayoi Kusama: Look Now, See Forever’ is at the Gallery of Modern Art until March 11.

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