13 Feb 2019

Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors

High Museum

Reviewed by Andy Gambrell

Six of Yayoi Kusama's "Infinity Mirror" rooms, along with many paintings and sculptures by the artist, are on view at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. The show spans from hauntingly beautiful, small gouache paintings made in the 1950's to a collaborative work with museum visitors, The Obliteration Room, installed in 2018.

Kusama's rooms are all made in a similar way, with objects or lights packed into a space covered in mirrors. Yet the sensory experience of each room is quite different. Phalli's Field (1965) situates the viewer in an overwhelming sea of dot-covered sculpture. Walking inside is a Being John Malkovich-like transition into the mind of an obsessive. In contrast, Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity (2009) is strikingly poetic. Warmly colored miniature lanterns pulse into and out of existence almost in harmony. The experience is as intimate as standing in a swarm of fireflies, but nods to sublime themes of birth, death, and impermanence.