Acrylic on canvas

53 × 45.5 cm. 207/8 × 177/8 in.

Titled in English and Chinese, signed in English and dated on the reverse

LITERATURE
2016, Demythifying Japanese Women Artists: Yuki Katsura, Yayoi Kusama, Atsuko Tanaka, Yuko Nasaka, Nukaga Gallery, Tokyo, p.39
EXHIBITED
12 Oct – 2 Nov 2016, Demythifying Japanese Women Artists: Yuki Katsura, Yayoi Kusama, Atsuko Tanaka, Nukaga Gallery, Tokyo
24 Nov – 15 Dec 2016, Demythifying Japanese Women Artists: Yuki Katsura, Yayoi Kusama, Atsuko Tanaka, Nukaga Gallery, Osaka

PROVENANCE
Nukaga Gallery, Tokyo
Important Private Collection, Asia

This work is accompanied with a registration card issued by Yayoi Kusama Studio

Walking in A New Life Through the Baptism of Falling Rain
Yayoi Kusama’s Self-redemption in Art
“I fight pain, anxiety, and fear every day, and the only method I have found that relieves my illness is to keep creating art. I followed the thread of art and somehow discovered a path that would allow me to live.”
—Yayoi Kusama
The legendary life of Yayoi Kusama is often recounted. But if we’re seeking for a crucial turning point in the six decades of her artistic career, it’s definitely her decision at the encouragement of the renowned painter Georgia O’Keeffe, to break away from her family, get rid of the many shackles of conventional Japanese culture, and leave for the then center of art world, New York.
From New York to a Worldwide Reputation
On November 18, 1957, Kusama set foot on the foreign land, the United States, since when she has stayed for 17 years. At that time, the wave of action painting was raging in New York, whereas Kusama has been adhering to her belief that for those who want to devote their whole life in art, the most important thing is to explore their inner selves, then to develop and create. Therefore, she devoted all of herself into her creation. Her works span different genres including painting, sculpture, installation, and performance art, one independent from another, while there exists a clear correspondence between each other. They have equally revealed her endless struggle and drifting between real feelings and hallucination, radiating vigorous vitality. Among them, her seemingly random and chaotic abstract paintings are created through the gradual accumulation of exquisite and refined strokes, building an infinite visual impression out from the limited space of the canvas. She has broken the boundaries of cognition between the East and West, through the presentation of her inner landscape, which is still avant-garde from today’s perspective.
Beneath the Countless Lines Lies the Rain-washed Clear Sky
Such painting style that is unique and beyond the traditional expressions is evident in the painting, Rain II, which Kusama completed in 1988. The artist abandoned the overall composition, as well as the visual focus, only depicting countless lines interlacing and merging in different patterns, through which the lively white pigment gradually covers the blue background and a subtle variation of hue is generated. At first sight, the viewer might be confused about the reticulation with no figurative reference, but with the indication of the title, each of us can interpret it by our own life experience, as the sunlight passing through pouring rain, or the splash of heavy raindrops hitting the ground. Through the work, the life of Kusama which has undergone the baptism of falling rain is presented with a poetic sentiment.
As the British poet and literary critic Herbert Edward Read summed up: "These early paintings, without beginning, without end, without form, without definition, seemed to actualize the infinity of space. Now with perfect consistency, she creates forms that proliferate like mycelium and seal the consciousness in their white integument. It is an autonomous art, the most authentic type of super-reality. This image of strange beauty presses on our organs of perception with terrifying persistence.” Yayoi Kusama’s self-redemption in art has opened another door for us, which leads to a world full of whimsy and infinite charm.

Price estimate:
HKD: 1,600,000 - 2,600,000
USD: 205,100 - 333,300

Auction Result:
HKD: 2,832,000