YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
Infinity Nets (ACWRTO), 2013
Acrylic on canvas
162.2 cm x 162.2 cm (63 7/8 x 63 7/8 inches)
signed, titled and dated ‘ACWRTO INFINITY-NETS YAYOI KUSAMA 2013’ (on the reverse)

 

Provenance
OTA Fine Arts, Singapore
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2015

Auction History
Christie’s New-York: 7 November 2023
Estimated: USD 1,800,000 – 2,500,000
USD 2,107,000

YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929) (christies.com)

 

Undoubtedly one of the world’s most celebrated living artists, Yayoi Kusama’s influential career has been a mainstay of the postwar and contemporary canon. Imbued with a singular vision that broke new ground in abstraction while remaining immensely personal in scope, the artist was praised by titans of American art from the very beginning and has had an untold effect on the course of many major artistic revelations. Infinity Nets (ACWRTO) is a consummate example of Kusama’s signature motif and speaks to the re-evaluation and re-invigoration of her practice following a major New York retrospective in 1989. Along with the polka dot, the infinity nets have become an unmistakable mark of Kusama’s career and have found their way into every corner of visual culture.

Optically dense and visually consuming, Infinity Nets (ACWRTO) is a hypnotic work of acrylic on canvas. Using a limited palette, Kusama has built a network of dots and loops that grow and undulate from edge to edge. Predominately rendered in a shade of fluorescent pink, the interconnected circles grow larger and smaller as the artist’s hand moves across the surface. Each loop surrounds a burning yellow dab of paint, and in the space between these elements, the dark green underpainting shows through. However, this is not a straightforward, orderly affair. Rather there are places within the canvas where the perceived uniformity is interrupted by variations caused by contrasting colors. These pairings in turn create shadow and space where only impasto acrylic exists.

Works such as Infinity Nets (ACWRTO) engage the eye in the same way that Kusama creates them. Working on a horizontal surface instead of the traditional easel, she spends countless hours hovering over the work as she builds up each mass of repetitive strokes. Not being able to see the entire piece as she’s going, creating the net becomes an all-encompassing process that takes over her field of vision, much like the optical hallucinations that serve as their source.