PRESS RELEASE14May 2013
The Polka Dot Queen of Avant-Garde Art, Yayoi Kusama
First-ever Exhibition in Vietnam
In celebration of the Japan – Vietnam Friendship Year 2013,the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnamproudly present the best of Japanese contemporary art exhibition “YAYOI KUSAMA: Obsessions” from Saturday 25 May to Sunday 28 July 2013 in Hanoi.
Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese avant-garde sculptor, painter and novelist, has received the National Lifetime Achievement Awards in 2006 but is still, or even more, hyperactive to create new art works.
In her over 7 decades-career as an artist, Kusama has worked in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, film, performance and installation. Having continuously innovated and re-invented her style, Kusama’s obsessive repetitions and patterns of dots have been widely celebrated and become her trademark.
Kusama has received numerous awards including the Order ofArts and Letters (2003/France), the Order of the Rising Sun (2006/Japan), the Praemium Imperiale (2006/Japan) and has recognized as the Person of Cultural Merit (2009/Japan).
Her solo art exhibitions have been also held in various prestigious museums such as Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMa), Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Centre Goerges Pompidou (Paris) and Tate Modern (London).
It is consequently quite natural that her artworks fetch around 4,000,000 - 6,000,000 USD at recent auctions, the highest price as an active female artist in the world.
Yayoi Kusama, however, regardless of being extremely highly established, never stops being avant-garde and goes forward to explore new possibilities in a new environment; this time – in Vietnam.
Kusama will occupy the site of the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam (27 Quang Trung, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi) with a variety of her famous immersive installations.
The half of the courtyard will be covered with 1,500 silver balls to install her legendary installation “Narcissus Garden” and 9 huge objects with polka dots entitled “Guidepost to the New Space” will be arranged in the other half of the courtyard and the car garage.
The main exhibition hall will be turned into a room for the installation “Dots Obsessions” in which you can enjoy Kusama’s one of the most popular installations with mirrors and dots balloons.
Last but not least, the small kitchen room in the appendix building will be dedicated for the relatively new installation “I’m Here, but Nothing” where you can experience the illusive confusion of two and three dimensions with dizzy illuminated dots.
We do hope this exhibition will provide a good opportunity not only for adults but also for kids to appreciate world-class contemporary art with free admission.
Remark: Yayoi Kusama will not come to Vietnam this time but her special message to Vietnam will be delivered at the opening of the exhibition.
YAYOI KUSAMA: Obsessions
Duration:Saturday 25 May – Sunday 28 July 2013
Venue:The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam
27 Quang Trung, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi
[Opening hours 09:00 – 18:00, no closed days]
Opening:10:00 – Saturday 25 May 2013
Including:
A congratulatory speech by the guest of honor
Mr. Hideo Suzuki (Minister of Embassy of Japan in Vietnam)
A special message on behalf of Yayoi Kusama will be also delivered.
For inquiries, please contact at:
Ms. Huong (04-3944-7419 ext: 106) / Mr. Yoshioka (0123-384-4138)
The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam
27 Quang Trung, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi, Vietnam TEL 04 3944 7419
Yayoi Kusama
1929 Born in Nagano, Japan
1957 Moved to the United States
1973 Return to Japan
Selected Awards
2000The Education Minister’s Art Encouragement Prize
The Foreign Minister’s Commendations
2001The Asahi Prize
2003The French Ordre des Arts et des Letters (Officier)
The Nagano Governor’s Prize
2006The 2006 National Lifetime Achievement Awards
The Order of Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette
The Praemium Imperiale – Painting
2009A Person of Cultural Merit
Selected Solo Exhibitions
1993YAYOI KUSAMA, Japan Pavilion, the 45th Venice Biennale (Venice, Italy)
1998Love Forever: YAYOI KUSAMA 1958-1968, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, the US)
2004YAYOI KUSAMA: KUSAMATRIX, Mori Art Museum (Tokyo); Museum of Contemporary Art, Sapporo (Japan)
2004YAYOI KUSAMA, The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto (Japan);, Matsumoto City Museum of Art
2008YAYOI KUSAMA: Mirrored Years, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (Netherlands); Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (Australia); City Gallery, Wellington (New Zealand)
2011YAYOI KUSAMA, Look Now, See Forever, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (Australia)
2011-2012YAYOI KUSAMA,Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid (Spain); Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, France); Tate Modern (London, the UK); Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, the US)
2012YAYOI KUSAMA: Eternity of Eternal Eternity, The National Museum of Art, Osaka; The Museum of Art, Saitama (Japan); Matsumoto City Museum of Art (Japan); Niigata City Art Museum (Japan)
Others
2012Collaboration with Luis Vuitton for “Yayoi Kusama Collection”
■ Selected Artworks
Remarks:
For the usage of the following images for your media, please contact the staffs in charge above. We will provide a bigger size of each image upon your request.
Yayoi Kusama
Narcissus Garden and Guidepost to the New Space
2004 Installation, Mixed Media
Installation view: Matsumoto City Museum of Art, Nagano, Japan
Yayoi Kusama
Guidepost to the New Space
2009 Installation, Mixed Media
Installation view: Hayward Gallery, London, the UK
Yayoi Kusama
I’m Here, but Nothing
2009 Installation, Mixed Media
Installation view:
State Museum of Modern Art of the Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow, Russia
Yayoi Kusama
Guidepost to the New Space
2012 Installation, Mixed Media
Installation view: Matsumoto City Museum of Art, Nagano, Japan