At 88-years-old, Yayoi Kusama is seen as the most important living artist to come out of Japan. A leading voice of the avant-garde, her works are largely conceptual and display attributes of feminism, surrealism, Art Brut, pop art and abstract expressionism. They are easily identifiable by their psychedelic colours, repetition and pattern, and her trademark polka dots and net, pumpkins, and infinity mirror rooms have become part of pop culture.

Yayoi inspires a kind of fan mania that’s rare for today’s contemporary art scene, and with National Gallery having just opened the first major exhibition of her work in Southeast Asia, well, you can expect some real buzz!

Featuring over 120 works across a variety of media, YAYOI KUSAMA: Life is the Heart of a Rainbow invites visitors to explore an extraordinary artistic journey across seven decades.

“We see Kusama’s work as a powerful introduction to important modern art movements and methods such as Surrealism, Pop, Minimalism, Performance and Conceptual art,” says Dr Eugene Tan, Director of National Gallery Singapore. “By presenting a wide range of works across the artist’s long career, we hope that audiences in Singapore and Southeast Asia will gain a new appreciation of an artist who now has a firm place in the global and regional art history, and is widely considered an iconic figure in popular culture.”

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The exhibition is a collaboration between National Gallery Singapore and Queensland Art Gallery&Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA), Brisbane, Australia. The exhibition is co- curated by Russell Storer and Adele Tan of the Gallery and Reuben Keehan of QAGOMA. In conjunction with this significant exhibition, Gallery & Co. have received the rights to release an extensive range of products featuring Yayoi’s artworks. 

YAYOI KUSAMA: Life is the Heart of a Rainbow runs from 9 June to 3 September 2017 at the Singtel Special Exhibition Gallery and City Hall Chamber, Level 3, City Hall Wing. The show will travel to QAGOMA in November 2017 after its presentation in Singapore.