Yesterday it was announced that Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama passed away on August 14th, at the age of 97. Although she had a long career, she became very popular much later in life for her dot-covered sculptures and paintings, as well as her Infinity Mirror Rooms installations. Infinity Mirrored Room—The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away(2013) and Longing for Eternity (2017), are currently on view at The Broad in Los Angeles.
Kusama: Infinity, directed by Heather Lenz, follows Kusama’s life from her childhood in the mountain town of Matsumoto, to years trying to build a career in New York in the 1960s, her struggles with mental illness, and later, years after her return to Japan, her tremendous career success. The film is a fascinating portrait of an artist who dedicated so much of her energy into making art.
Kusama’s exuberant sculptural installation “With All My Love For The Tulips, I Pray Forever”(2011) exemplifies the dualism found throughout her work between the organic and the artificial. Shown here for the first time in Los Angeles, the oversized flower-potted tulips made from fiberglass-reinforced plastic are painted with the same red polka dots as the floor, ceiling, and walls, creating an immersive viewing experience while at the same time diminishing the appearance of depth. This work exemplifies Kusama’s singular vision and her distinctive gift for drawing viewers into the work on a deeply visceral level. Kusama currently lives and works in Tokyo.
For its inaugural exhibition at its Chelsea New York location, Mucciaccia Gallery is showing the work of Yayoi Kusama. The show includes sculptures, her signature infinity polka dot paintings, and several of her works on paper.
Closing 12/8/19 at LACMA is Every Living Thing: Animals in Japanese Art. It’s a really fun of exhibition with a good selection of art from different time periods, including Yayoi Kusama’s dog sculptures from Megu-chan (2014), two of which are pictured above.
From LACMA’s website-
Every Living Thing: Animals in Japanese Art celebrates one of the most distinctive and compelling aspects of Japanese art: the depiction of animals. Underpinned by Japan’s unique spiritual heritage of Shintō and Buddhism, the Japanese reverence for nature—and the place of animals within that realm—is expressed in sculpture, painting, lacquer-work, ceramics, metalwork, cloisonné, and woodblock prints.
Lions, dogs, horses, oxen, cats, fish, insects, birds, dragons, phoenixes—animals warm and cold-blooded, real and imaginary—are meticulously and beautifully rendered in myriad works from ancient 6th-century clay sculpture to contemporary art. Arranged in themes such as Zodiac Animals, Animals from Nature, Religion, Myth and Folklore, and Leisure, the exhibition draws heavily from LACMA’s permanent collection and includes masterpieces from Japanese and American public and private collections, some of which are on view for the first time.
Get your holiday weekend started with Friday Fireworks at Dodger Stadium after they play the Arizona Diamondbacks
Juiceboxxx is playing with Charge It To The Game, No Win, and Margot Pauline at The Hi Hat
Here Lies Man and Jungle Fire are playing a free show at Levitt Pavilion in MacArthur Park
Metric are opening for The Smashing Pumpkins at The Forum (also Thursday)
Saturday
It’s the last weekend of Hammer Museum’s exhibition Made in L.A. 2018 and today you can see dance performances by artist taisha paggett along with her installation for the show
Brazilian artist Liniker e os Caramelows is performing at the Bootleg Theater
Beverly Hills Cop is the Cinespia Hollywood Forever Cemetery screening this evening
The Stevenson Ranch Davidians, The Tulips and Saint Cecilia are playing a free show at the Highland Park Bowl
Jurassic Shark are playing at the Lodge Room with Diners and Wild Wing opening
The Mad Walls are playing with The English Language, Rearranged Face and Mooncult at The Hi Hat
La Santa Cecilia is playing a free show at Burton Chace Park in Marina Del Rey- RSVP here
Golden Road Brewery is hosting Made in LA– a 2 day Music and Arts Festival with 50% of all ticket sales going to ArtShareLA. Performers include Dorothy, Saint Motel, Buyepongo and DUCKWRTH ($10 per day)
Sunday
At the Hammer Museum, composer/performer Carolyn Pennypacker will be assembling Mothers Choir, “a group of mothers, including her own—to investigate the complicated tropes and trip-outs of the meanings of mother” and there will be “empathic musical readings” in the gallery prior to the performance by Von Doog.
Cinespia’s Hollywood Forever Cemetery screenings continue with Now and Then
The Aero Theatre is showing Los Angeles Plays Itself along with a discussion with director Thom Anderson
Marbled Eye and Blues Lawyer are opening for Sheer Mag at the Troubadour
Geneva Jacuzzi is performing at The Echo with CMON and Toucan
The Marciano Art Foundation, established by Paul and Maurice Marciano (co-founders of the Guess clothing brand), opened its doors in May of 2017 in Los Angeles and is a great addition to the city’s art spaces. It is currently showing Olafur Eliasson: Reality Projector (pictured above), an immersive kaleidoscopic piece created specifically for this location, with a soundscape created by Jónsi of Sigur Rós. A rotating selection of works from the Marcianos’ permanent collection is also on view as well as Instagram favorite Yayoi Kusama’s With All My Love For The Tulips, I Pray Forever.
The foundation is housed in a former Scottish Rite Masonic Temple and there is a room dedicated to objects that the Masons left behind.
Both the inside and outside of the building retain the symbols and remnants of the Masonic history as well.
It is free to go to the MAF but it is recommended that you reserve tickets online.
