YAYOI KUSAMA
Pumpkin Army, 2014
Acrylic on canvas
130.3 x 162 cm (51.2 x 63.7 inches)
Signed, title and dated 2014 on the reverse

Provenance
Victoria Miro Gallery, London
Acquired from the above by the present owner

 

Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 9 July 2020
HKD 25,615,000

Source: Sotheby’s
(#1127) YAYOI KUSAMA | Pumpkin Army (sothebys.com)

 

Bursting with joyous psychedelic energy, Pumpkin Army features Yayoi Kusama’s iconic ‘army of pumpkins’ composition in large format canvas, rendering it a rare specimen featuring this highly special motif in a unique painting. With its striking orange kabocha background and cheerful chorus of fastidiously executed pumpkins, Pumpkin Army sets itself apart, marrying Kusama’ pumpkin iconography with her conceptual motifs of repetition and infinity. Manifesting as an unequivocally consummate and technically impeccable archetype of Kusama’s oeuvre, the energetic ensemble of pumpkins echoes the powerful and immersive multitudes of pumpkins in her iconic mirror room installations – a true testament to nine decades of astonishing dedication to art and creation. Arguably the most important living female artist today, responsible for revolutionising Abstraction, Expressionism, Emotionalism, Pop Art and Minimalism, Kusama Yayoi’s phenomenal oeuvre transgresses paradigms in all fields and media. Since her early days of explosive stardom creating cutting-edge avant-garde art in parallel with key figures in the male-dominated global art scene such as Andy Warhol, George Segal, Donald Judd and Claes Oldenburg, Kusama’s ground-breaking innovation never diminished; now in her late-eighties, the octogenarian shows no signs of slowing down. Fueled by an irrepressible drive and a singularly extraordinary vision, Kusama works tirelessly and compulsively, producing captivating and intricate works each more beautiful and mesmerizing than the last. The present Pumpkin Army was created in 2014 at the apex of the artist’s return to global eminence, manifesting as an emblem of the artist’s epochal multi-faceted oeuvre.

Functioning as both an allegory and a form of self-portraiture, Kusama’s pumpkin as an uncanny yet benign and nurturing subject exudes peace, serenity, life and vigor. Traditionally a symbol of fertility, the pumpkin also gives one a feeling of abundance, joy, triumph and reward – not unlike the feelings one would experience when reaping one’s harvest after an arduous season of work. In 1993, after almost two decades of a retreated presence from the international art world, Kusama was invited to be the first solo artist and first woman ever to grace the Japanese pavilion at the 45th Venice Biennale. For this momentous occasion she constructed Mirror Room (Pumpkin), consuming a section of the pavilion in an immersive floor-to-ceiling extravaganza of black-on-yellow polka dots. At its center was a dazzling mirrored room filled with pumpkin sculptures, echoing her seminal 1966 Infinity Mirror Room—Love Forever installation whilst grandly introducing the theme of the pumpkin. The pumpkin thus stands as a symbol of triumph for the artist’s international resurgence and rise to global eminence. Created in 2014, in the midst of the surging momentum of Kusama’s ongoing ascent into the highest echelons of contemporary art history, the present highly unique Pumpkin Army harnesses the artist’s most recognizable iconography, enacting a singular encapsulation of one of the most important artistic visions of our generation.