YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929)
Nets-Infinity (OPQA), 2004
Acrylic on canvas
130.3×97.2 cm (51.4×38.2 inches)
Signed, titled in English and Japanese and dated 2004 (on the reverse)
Provenance
Ota Fine Arts, Japan
Alan Koppel Gallery, Chicago
Private collection, 2007
Anon. sale; Sotheby’s, New York, 15 May 2014, lot 218
Private collection, Switzerland
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Auction History
Christie’s New-York: 14 May 2021
Estimated: USD 500,000 – 700,000
USD 870,000
YAYOI KUSAMA (B. 1929), Nets-Infinity (OPQA) | Christie’s (christies.com)
REPEAT SALE
Sotheby’s New-York: 15 May 2014
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 200,000
USD 245,000
Nets-Infinity (OPQA), executed in 2004 with a palate of gold and fluorescent green, undulates with movement. The artist’s looping brush strokes ebb and flow across the canvas, creating a rising and falling effect like the ocean tide. The work is underpinned by an emotional intensity contained within the Kusama’s obsessive practice. In feats of remarkable stamina and focus, Kusama is known to labor for hours over her works to the point of exhaustion, meticulously repeating her looping brushstrokes in order to create the net’s rippling effect. The process of painting becomes an all-consuming, almost spiritual experience, the world distilled to one simple form. Nets-Infinity (OPQA) is remarkable among the infinity net series for its thickly painted surface, and for the subtle changes in direction that are made by the schools of brushstrokes. These two effects combine to create a shimmering, undulant paint surface. Mirroring the quiet repetition that went into its making, Nets-Infinity (OPQA) stimulates introspection and transcendence and draws its viewers into a meditative state.
Beginning at a single point on the canvas, Kusama applies her brushstrokes without any guidelines for the composition. The patterns produced by her close working often only revealing themselves after she has stood back from the painting. Because Kusama works so intently, the density of the individual loops changes over time as her brush runs dry of paint. This results in a surface that is rich in both visual and textural variety, and in which the artist’s technical skill and physical and mental stamina are very much on display.
Nets-Infinity (OPQA) is remarkable among the infinity net series for its thickly painted surface and for the subtle changes in direction that are made by the schools of brushstrokes. These two effects combine to create a shimmering, undulant paint surface. Mirroring the quiet repetition that went into its making, Nets-Infinity (OPQA) stimulates introspection and transcendence, and draws its viewers into a meditative state.