Infinity Nets TWGZ, 2005
Acrylic on canvas
100×100 cm (39.4x 39.4 inches)
Signed, titled and dated ‘yayoi Kusama 2005 INFINITY-NETS TWGZ’ (on the reverse)

Provenance
Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Christie’s New-York: 5 March 2015
USD 509,000

Source: Christie’s
Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929) (christies.com)

From a distance, Infinity Net first appears to be a monochrome white square. But, upon closer inspection, the work reveals itself as a delicate yet hypnotic pattern of gestural scallops that combine to form an interweaving net of paint. With no two identical markings, the dense composition acts as a record of the artistic process and an embodiment of time. A quintessential example of the Japanese-American artist Yayoi Kusama’s acclaimed Infinity Net series that she began in the 1950s, the allover effect reflects the title in its potential to expand past the confines of the picture plane ad infinitum.

To produce these mesmeric works, Kusama bathes the canvas in a dark wash, after which the artist conceals the ground with an endless lattice of semi-circles, painting compulsively for hours on end, sometimes without sustenance or sleep. The labor intensive intricacy of these repeated iterations of a single, simple gesture reflects Kusama’s personal mythology. The artist has described her nets as visualizations of powerful hallucinations the artist has endured since childhood, wherein the entire universe fills with dot patterns. These visions are just one example of the psychological ill health that has plagued the artist throughout her life and artistic career. According to the artist, these dizzying compositions exist as an act of self-obliteration and artistic transubstantiation, allowing the individual to return to the infinite universe.