YAYOI KUSAMA
INFINITY NETS (ZGHEB), 2007
Acrylic on canvas
194×194 cm (76 3/8 x 76 3/8 inches)
Signed, titled and dated ‘Yayoi Kusama 2007 “INFINITY-NETS ZGHEB”‘ on the reverse

Yayoi Kusama’s iconic Net paintings have continually captivated audiences with their breathtaking aesthetics, intriguing psychological depths, and profound philosophical undertones. Beneath their stunning surfaces lies the boundless life energy that Kusama channels to thrive through her near century-long journey across hope and darkness, love and pain. The present lot, INFINITY NETS (ZGHEB) from 2007, envelops viewers within a sea of turbulent grey misty swirls, serving as a remarkable testament to Kusama’s skillful manipulation of touch, rhythm, and depth, infusing her art with renewed vitality. Kusama’s psychological struggle is substantiated by an intense investment in physical labor. Beneath the mesmerizing beauty of Kusama’s net paintings lies a bodily commitment to the laborious painting process. With each net painting she creates, Kusama dedicates hours of concentration, repetitively drawing the looping marks on the canvas, until it occupies and even goes beyond the monumental meters-long canvas. As she executes the small circular strokes, the entire process is imbued with restless and almost mechanical energy.

In the case of the present lot, there is even greater dedication on display as Kusama expands beyond her earlier monochromatic approach to incorporate more subtle tonal gradations and spatial senses. The enriched color palette adds layers of expressive potential. Each stroke is meticulously applied, one after another, resulting in a careful build-up of the swirls, their directions and fluctuations. This simultaneous demonstration of extreme control and the surrendering of bodily autonomy creates an internal tension that evokes contemplation and reflection in viewers. The interplay between meticulous precision and the inherent organic nature of the artistic process invites viewers to engage in a deeper level of introspection and interpretation. The expansion of Yayoi Kusama’s artistic universe transcends far beyond the boundaries of the painterly surface. Throughout the decades, her obsessive engagement with net paintings has evolved into a practice of world-making, extended to a wide range of formal elements such as polka dots and mirror balls, taking more diverse forms such as prints, sculptures, installations, and so forth. These elements penetrate both the natural and artificial, as well as the internal and external realms of her life. Over nearly half a century, they have built up together an otherworldly Kusama universe, manifesting meta-reflections of her entire lived experience. When viewed alongside, the swirling and misty nets depicted in INFINITY NETS (ZGHEB) take on an ethereal quality, as if filling the void of the universe with their vibrant energy. The net motif, in this context, becomes the very conduit through which Kusama constructs her own ‘theory of everything’ to embrace the vastness and interconnectedness of existence.