Opening: Sat 25 May, 10 am
Exhibition: 25 May – 28 Jul 2013, 9 am – 6 pm
Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam
From Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam:
In celebration of the Japan – Vietnam Friendship Year 2013, the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam proudly present the best of Japanese contemporary art exhibition “YAYOI KUSAMA: Obsessions” from Saturday 25 May to Sunday 28 July 2013 in Hanoi.
Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese avant-garde sculptor, painter and novelist, has received the National Lifetime Achievement Awards in 2006 but is still, or even more, hyperactive to create new art works.
In her over 7 decades-career as an artist, Kusama has worked in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, film, performance and installation. Having continuously innovated and re-invented her style, Kusama’s obsessive repetitions and patterns of dots have been widely celebrated and become her trademark.
Yayoi Kusama
Narcissus Garden and Guidepost to the New Space
2004 Installation, Mixed Media
Installation view: Matsumoto City Museum of Art, Nagano, Japan
Kusama has received numerous awards including the Order of Arts and Letters (2003/France), the Order of the Rising Sun (2006/Japan), the Praemium Imperiale (2006/Japan) and has recognized as the Person of Cultural Merit (2009/Japan).
Her solo art exhibitions have been also held in various prestigious museums such as Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMa), Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Centre Goerges Pompidou (Paris) and Tate Modern (London).
It is consequently quite natural that her artworks fetch around 4,000,000 – 6,000,000 USD at recent auctions, the highest price as an active female artist in the world.
Yayoi Kusama, however, regardless of being extremely highly established, never stops being avant-garde and goes forward to explore new possibilities in a new environment; this time – in Vietnam.
Yayoi Kusama
I’m Here, but Nothing
2009 Installation, Mixed Media
Installation view:
State Museum of Modern Art of the Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow, Russia
Kusama will occupy the site of the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam (27 Quang Trung, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi) with a variety of her famous immersive installations.
The half of the courtyard will be covered with 1,500 silver balls to install her legendary installation “Narcissus Garden” and 9 huge objects with polka dots entitled “Guidepost to the New Space” will be arranged in the other half of the courtyard and the car garage.
The main exhibition hall will be turned into a room for the installation “Dots Obsessions” in which you can enjoy Kusama’s one of the most popular installations with mirrors and dots balloons.
Last but not least, the small kitchen room in the appendix building will be dedicated for the relatively new installation “I’m Here, but Nothing” where you can experience the illusive confusion of two and three dimensions with dizzy illuminated dots.
We do hope this exhibition will provide a good opportunity not only for adults but also for kids to appreciate world-class contemporary art with free admission.
Yayoi Kusama
Guidepost to the New Space
2009 Installation, Mixed Media
Installation view: Hayward Gallery, London, the UK
Remark: Yayoi Kusama will not come to Vietnam this time but her special message to Vietnam will be delivered at the opening of the exhibition.
About Yayoi Kusama
1929 Born in Nagano, Japan
1957 Moved to the United States
1973 Return to Japan
Selected Awards
2000 The Education Minister’s Art Encouragement Prize
The Foreign Minister’s Commendations
2001 The Asahi Prize
2003 The French Ordre des Arts et des Letters (Officier)
The Nagano Governor’s Prize
2006 The 2006 National Lifetime Achievement Awards
The Order of Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette
The Praemium Imperiale – Painting
2009 A Person of Cultural Merit
Selected Solo Exhibitions
1993 YAYOI KUSAMA, Japan Pavilion, the 45th Venice Biennale (Venice, Italy)
1998 Love Forever: YAYOI KUSAMA 1958-1968, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, the US)
2004 YAYOI KUSAMA: KUSAMATRIX, Mori Art Museum (Tokyo); Museum of Contemporary Art, Sapporo (Japan)
2004 YAYOI KUSAMA, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto (Japan);, Matsumoto City Museum of Art
2008 YAYOI KUSAMA: Mirrored Years, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (Netherlands); Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (Australia); City Gallery, Wellington (New Zealand)
2011 YAYOI KUSAMA, Look Now, See Forever, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (Australia)
2011-2012 YAYOI KUSAMA, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid (Spain); Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, France); Tate Modern (London, the UK); Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, the US)
2012 YAYOI KUSAMA: Eternity of Eternal Eternity, The National Museum of Art, Osaka; The Museum of Art, Saitama (Japan); Matsumoto City Museum of Art (Japan); Niigata City Art Museum (Japan)
Others
2012 Collaboration with Luis Vuitton for “Yayoi Kusama Collection”
Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam
27 Quang Trung
Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội
Tel: 3944 7419
www.jpf.org.vn
Source: Hanoi Grapevine
