INFINITY-NETS (MTTI), 2010
Acrylic on canvas
130.3×130.3 cm (51.4×51.4 inches)
Signed in English, titled and dated 2010 on the reverse

 

Provenance
Rosenfeld Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above

 

Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 1 April 2019
HKD 5,215,000 / USD 664,365

Source: Sotheby’s
(#1163) KUSAMA YAYOI | INFINITY-NETS (MTTI) (sothebys.com)

 

The enigmatic and enthralling Infinity-Nets (MTTI) is an exquisite black-on-grey monochrome work from Kusama Yayoi’s most celebrated corpus of paintings. The glossy expanse of jet-black darkness, enclosed in a perfect square format, initially exudes an iconic stillness; as the viewer approaches the painting, the impasto of each arced brushstroke picks up light from the shifting surroundings to evince a dynamic, glistening and rhythmically flowing surface. Within Kusama’s widely varied oeuvre, her Infinity Nets are amongst her most visually and conceptually complex: inherent in each painting is the philosophical paradox that ‘infinity’ could be embodied and constrained within the two-dimensional canvas, a paradox that Kusama triumphs over, repeatedly and infinitely, since her incipient Nets from 1959.

Combining the stark aesthetic of the monochrome with the patterned feminine intricacy of lacework, the present work is a distinguished example that elegantly and concisely encapsulates Kusama’s legendary and celebrated oeuvre. A mature and exquisitely rendered reincarnation of Kusama’s original Nets canvases, Infinity-Nets (MTTI) epitomizes the artist’s unique brand of cosmic abstraction and ethereal infiniteness.