Acrylic on canvas

33.3×24.2 cm. 13 1/8×9 1/2 in.

Signed in English, dated, and titled in English and Japanese Kanji on the reverse
PROVENANCE
Important Private Collection, Asia

This work is accompanied by a registration card issued by YAYOI KUSAMA Inc.

A Brilliant Life, Unbridled and in Full Bloom
Autobiographical Dahlia Masterpiece by Yayoi Kusama Goes on Auction

"All I wanted to do was to breathe the vitality of the time in which I lived to the best of my ability and blossom as a bright red flower towards the future...or as flowers are coloured red or purple to symbolise they are being alive."
——Yayoi Kusama

There is a well-known photograph of 10-year-old Yayoi Kusama holding a bouquet of dahlias surrounded by flowers taken in 1939. The dahlias in the photo are of unparalleled beauty, each one chosen by young Kusama herself and held in front of her chest, almost covering her whole body. This image later became a precious memory and the artist's earliest moment of being at one with and immersed in nature.

Born into a family that ran a plant seed wholesale business in a mountainous area of Nagano, Japan, Kusama traveled alone to New York with nothing but dreams of being an artist to sustain her, on a trip that marked the first step in her ascent to the very pinnacle of the global art world and her journey to becoming the "Queen of Avant-Garde." Throughout her career, the artist has drawn on the power she derives from the protection, self-confidence, blossoming, and unity with nature provided by flowers and nature, to develop her unique creative concept of "self-obliteration" with all things. Indeed, Kusama's artistic achievements have received widespread recognition and success in both Japan and abroad over multiple decades. For example, in 1993, she became the first female to represent Japan at the Venice Biennale as a solo artist. She has also engaged in cross-discipline collaboration with brands such as Louis Vuitton and Ferragamo, and her works have been collected by more than 90 major museums worldwide. At the same time, the global "Kusama craze" made her name synonymous with fashion and avant-garde art. Moreover, Kusama has consistently employed flowers and her soul to write the story of her life, avant-garde, unbridled, fearless in the face of the worldly drabness and true.

Yayoi Kusama's 2005 work A Flower (TZSS) with its dahlia motif is a major focus at this year's spring auction. It also establishes a connection to the photograph of the artist holding a dahlia as a child taken 66 years earlier and is an important autobiographical work based on her concept of "identifying with flowers."

Infinite Charm, Cherishing a Rare and Unique Dahlia

Flowers occupy a central place in the fantastical world created by Kusama and became one of her most important motifs, symbolizing the starting point of her fantastical vision, admiration for American female artist Georgia O'Keeffe, boldness in moving to New York and the ultimate incarnation of her own life. This is clearly seen in A Flower (TZSS), into which Kusama poured over 60 years of passion for "flowers" and autobiographical references. Unusually, the focus of the piece is an elegant and poised, purple-red dahlia against a yellow background decorated with a black net pattern symbolic of the colours at the beginning of creation. In addition, the outward-reaching flower petals radiate energy and are replete with a sense of the surreal.

The dahlia has large layered petals in brilliant colours that resemble a kaleidoscope, making it the perfect focus for Kusama's eye-catching artistic forms. Currently, only two oil paintings by the artist of dahlias have been sold at auction, of which A Flower (TZSS) is the earliest completed work, highlighting its unique and extraordinary rareness. The second piece, completed nine years later, Flower, sold for HK$78.125 million, the second highest ever for a work by Kusama, underscoring the particular appeal of the dahlia in her artistic oeuvre.

Layered and Boundlessly Expanding Life Energy

"The door of illusion is pushed open
Amidst the anguish of flowers,
this moment is never ending
Before the steps to heaven,
my heart will rest in their love
In the air, constantly exchanging,
unquestioning, a clear blue sky
Mixed with the shadows of illusion,
cumulonimbus clouds rise
Devouring the colours of hibiscus and the sound of falling tears
I am become stone
No longer eternal,
But in a fleeting moment."
——Yayoi Kusama, 1978

In A Flower (TZSS), Kusama combines the three iconic artistic languages she developed in her career: "infinity nets," "polka dots" and "flowers." The artist depicts four inner and outer spatial layers, but more unusually departs from her usual use of two or three colours for flowers. Indeed, in this piece she uses up to five different colours: purple, white, yellow, blue and red. This technique, particularly in terms of Kusama's use of floral motifs is extremely rare, showcasing the uniqueness of the work.

The centre of the dahlia is divided into three layers expanding from the inside outwards: the first layer focuses on the "pistil" and is comprised of radiating straight lines and purple-white polka dots, this layer forms a six-petal flower heart akin to an explosion of fireworks. The second layer is of "pseudo flowers," which represent the classical compound inflorescence of the dahlia, made up of four smaller flower petals comprised of polka dots that extend from the centre outwards. The gradually changing sizes of the yellow and blue dots emphasize the dynamism of change, which further expands the visual space. The third layer has six flower petals with alternating different-sized red and white polka dots, arranged in such a way that the red and white patterns are reversed on each petal, highlighting the presence of the red flowers and the boundless changes of nature.

The background to the work is an infinity net comprised of yellow blocks and black lines, which the writer calls the fourth layer of space. All four layers are explosive, dizzying, representing an expansion of power and infinitely enveloping - highlighting extreme visual stimulation and images that captivate the attention and mind of the viewer. Moreover, the dahlia in the middle of this yellow-black net, seems to grow stronger and more robust within its tightly defined confines.

A Dahlia Dancing in the Wind, Imbued with Love and Courage

Unlike Kusama's standard straight-line compositions of individual flowers, A Flower (TZSS) adopts a diagonal structure that showcases a deeper spatial extension and dynamic effect. The stalk of the flower gently bends, emerging from the ground in one corner and highlighting the swaying and rhythm of natural growth.

The use of red and purple at the heart of the flower echoes a diary entry written by the artist in the 1970s. "As flowers are coloured red or purple to symbolise they are being alive." In addition, the "flower language" of the dahlia is "gorgeous elegance and rich grace," with red symbolising sweet love and purple signifying courage. Moreover, this dahlia, nurtured by love and courage, embodies Kusama's best expectations for life.

An Endlessly Sumptuous Flora Fantasy

Kusama's work breaks with conventional visual perspective, preferring to depict the dahlia in a supernatural, magical form that transcends human perception. The stalk and leaf are covered with an infinity net of neatly arranged rectangles that mimick the palisade cell layer and bubbles observed under a microscope in plant epidermal cells, thereby highlighting the "delicate network" that exists within the plant. For a fleeting moment this is projected as the stars of the universe and displays great propagative power. In addition, the flower continuously give birth to new life colours, the repeated cycle of polka dots transporting life and using it to fill the empty space, growing with abandon in spirals in a way that is reminiscent of Tree of Life by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt.

For Kusama, "flowers" symbolise two sides of one coin, the blooming and withering of life, the macroscopic and the microscopic. They are seemingly delicate but possess great tenacity, endlessly intertwining, growing and ultimately become towering existence in organic form. Kusama creates a red flower of the soul in her own unique way and guided by the infinity net it blooms at the end of time, loudly telling a story of life, like a personal declaration from the artist.

Price estimate:
HKD 5,000,000 - 8,000,000
USD 641,000 - 1,025,600