VENUS NETS (R) AND STATUE OF VENUS OBLITERATED BY INFINITY NETS (R), 1998
Acrylic on canvas and fiberglass, in two parts
Painting: 227.3×145.4 cm (89.5×57.2 inches)
Signed, titled and dated 1998 on the reverse
Statue: 215.9×68.6×60 cm (85x27x23.6 inches)
Signed, titled and dated 1998
Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist
Komagane Kogen Art Museum, Nagano
Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, 7 October 2012, Lot 815
Acquired from the above sale by the present owner
Sotheby’ Hong-Kong: 6 October 2020
HKD 14,695,000 / USD 1,896,022
Venus Nets (R) and Statue of Venus Obliterated by Infinity Nets (R) belongs to one of thirteen works from the Venus series produced by the artist in 1998. In the work, the graceful and elegant contours of the statue of Venus de Milo emerges from Kusama’s iconic Infinity Nets, camouflaged against the identically patterned canvas in the background.
STATUE OF THE VENUS DE MILO, MUSÉE DE LOUVRE, PARIS
While ten editions were first shown in “Yayoi Kusama Now” at the Robert Miller Gallery in New York the same year, the present lot is one of the three alternate editions and had been collected by Komagane Kogen Art Museum in Japan. The exemplary series brings together a number of notable elements from the artist’s psychedelic practice during mid 1960’s to the present.
THE ARTIST IN HER STUDIO, NEW YORK, C. 1961. COURTESY YAYOI KUSAMA INC.
The pairing of red and black color in this edition especially highlights one of Kusama’s most popular color palettes. The obliterated figure of Venus de Milo is further reminiscent of the image of Kusama in her pioneering self-obliterating collages and happenings from the 1960’s. Riding the wave from the burgeoning hippie culture, Kusama began to explore and stage live public performances across New York City. Most of them involved the artist painting groups of dancing young and nude performers under a visual spell of polka dots. Around the same time she also began photographing herself wearing polka dots outfits and standing with her works, an act that at once surrendered herself to her art. In the Venus series, the permanent and self-manifesting power of the Infinity Nets and polka dots can be considered to finally conquest Greek’s timeless icon of love, where the residual image of obliterated performers and the self-obliterated Kusama forever remains.
