YAYOI KUSAMA
Red Nets, 1966
Oil on canvasboard
61×50.5 cm (24×19.9 inches)
Signed, titled and dated ‘KUSAMA RED NETS 1966’ (on the reverse)

Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist, 1966
Collection of Frances and Frank Okazaki, New York
Private Collection (By descent from the above to the previous owner)
Christie’s New York, 12 November 2021, Lot 139
Private Asian Collection (acquired directly from the above sale)

Auction History

Sotheby’s Singapore: 28 August 2022
Estimated: SGD 420,000 – 750,000
SGD 945,000 / USD 678,294

Yayoi Kusama 草間彌生 | Red nets 紅色無限網 | Modern & Contemporary Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s

REPEAT SALE

Christie’s New-York: 12 November 2021
Estimated: USD 300,000 – 500,000
USD 600,000

YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929), Red Nets | Christie’s (christies.com)

 

The waves of undulating painted loops that distinguish this early example of Yayoi Kusama’s iconic Infinity Nets are exemplary of the artist’s most famous forms which have been present in her art since childhood. The hypnotic strokes that roll across the surface of the canvas envelop the viewer; passages of dusky pinks and warm orange flow in alternating bands, completely consuming the surface of the work. The composition is made up of semi-circular arches of pigment, leaving only the slightest glimpses of a soft layer of underpainting. Kusama’s strokes vary from light applications of paint to more globular strokes that allow for one to directly note the artist’s hand. Her process often involves beginning in one corner of the canvas, which is laid flat on a table or work surface in front of her, before applying the scalloped forms without a pre-determined direction or arrangement in mind.

The interplay of shades creates different shapes within the nets, bringing the work to life. Red Nets has been in the same family since the painting was acquired directly from the artist in 1966. Frank Okazaki, and his wife, Frances, were good friends with the Japanese American artists James Tanaka and Ken Nishi, who likely introduced Okazaki to the work of Yayoi Kusama and inspired their purchase of Red Nets in 1966.