Mixed media sculpture

39.5 x 42 x 16 cm. 15 1/2 x 16 1/2 x 6 1/4 in.

Signed in English， titled in Japanese and dated on bottom of the artwork
PROVENANCE
Important Private Collection, Asia

This work is accompanied by an Artwork Registration Card issued by Yayoi Kusama studio

POWER OF LOVE AND REBORN
Sleeping Stamens, the work that witnessing transition of Yayoi Kusama
A lthough Yayoi Kusama is 89 years old this year, she still maintains her passion for artistic creation and the spirit of pursuing change. In February 2017, her large-scale retrospective solo exhibition, named YAYOI KUSAMA: My Eternal Soul, was held at the National Art Center in Minato, Tokyo. Seven large three-meter flower sculptures were placed in the center of the main hall, some standing upright and some lying flat, bringing tranquility to the tumultuous and flashy surrounding paintings.
Flowers are a key theme present throughout Yayoi Kusama's career. As her own mentality has undergone changes and sublimation, the meaning that the flowers carry has also changed. The object of this auction, Sleeping Stamens, created in the 1980s, represents a turning point in Kusama's redefinition of flowers.
One flower, one world
Sleeping Stamens, created in the 1988, feature a yellow, rectangular rattan basket cushioned with gorgeous, shiny red velvet, on which a bouquet of blooming flowers made of clay is placed. The flowers （probably hybrids of roses and carnations）, the paper wrapped around them, and the bow in the bottom were hand-made with unpainted clay, becoming gray ceramic after being baked in a low-temperature furnace. The wrapping paper is coated with a layer of silver, transparent glaze, which makes the bouquet appear colder than its surroundings. In addition, the artist deliberately used turquoise green to highlight the pistils of the flowers, exactly the same color as featured on the Mayan mask of the fire god Xiuhtecuhtli, considered to hold magical properties. Perhaps the 11 flowers in the bouquet reflect the hallucinations she experienced as a child, when she was diagnosed with psychosis.
Flowers were a frequent element of her childhood hallucinations. They are also one of the main elements of works by Georgia O'Keeffe, Kusama's spiritual mentor. It was because of O'Keeffe's encouragement that Kusama made up her mind to go to New York and embark on the artistic path. Moreover, flower used to be a metaphor for sex and penises that she both hated and feared due to her father's extramarital activities she witnessed as a child. As time went by, artistic creation helped her to gradually eliminate those fears and finally separate flowers from her inner anxiety, re-assigning their meaning as a representation of continuous reproduction and growth. Sleeping Stamens is a testimony to this breakthrough.

Tenacious Vitality
In the 1980s, the symbolism of Yayoi Kusama's sculptures changed radically. For example, her soft sculpture Accumulation #1 （1962） is an armchair, the surface of which is covered with unidentified, penis-like creatures which seem to be growing and spreading like her fears. After mid-1980s she did not engage in this type of creation, which indicates that her fear of sex had begun to fade.
In Sleeping Stamens, Kusama was able to convert the image of a penis into flowers. The limestone-like, hard texture of the bouquet is reminiscent of the stone into which all living things changed upon the gaze of Medusa. Here, however, Medusa seems to have lost her powers. The bouquet is wrapped like a gift and placed in a yellow basket cushioned with red velvet, indicating that her anxiety was not weighing as heavily as a stone anymore. This work proves that Kusama was finally free, her heart has filled with the desire for love and peace. The rattan basket was painted with the artist's favorite yellow and would later appear in her paintings and prints that feature fruit, mushrooms, and vegetables. All these yellow baskets are her gifts to the world. Yayoi Kusama only created works featuring rattan baskets and ceramics in the five-year period between 1984 to 1988, though their total number is less than one hundred, making Sleeping Stamens a very precious and rare representative piece.

Price estimate:
HKD: 700,000 - 1,000,000
USD: 89,200 - 127,400

Auction Result:
HKD : 826,000