Yayoi Kusama Exhibit: Plants and I

Earlier this month I decided to visit the Yayoi Kusama Museum in Shinjuku, Japan, due to my fascination with her intricately dotted sculptures and paintings that gained a lot of popularity through social media. The exhibit that I saw was titled I Want You to Look at My Prospects for the Future: Plants and I.

The 5 floor museum consisted of a variety of hand-painted pieces, as well as art books you could browse through on the top floor. There was also a beautiful outdoor exhibit of a giant shimmering pumpkin and fantastic view of the city.

Additionally, there was a dark room you could go in with glowing pumpkins. They reminded me of lanterns because they had a very soft glow:

I found this museum to be quite interesting because before each main exhibit, there was poetry printed on the wall about Kusama’s thoughts and feelings about the artwork. In the first poem which is found at the entrance of the museum, she talks about her strong aspirations for us to understand her art since she infused her soul into this museum, and hope that it leads us to peace:

When she writes about her obsessions of pumpkins and violets, you can see a stark contrast in her feelings. When she describes her love of pumpkins, she talks about how she “cannot efface the joy of them being my everything” and wishes for us humans to unearth ourselves and discover how we should live our lives in harmony like pumpkins in a pumpkin patch.

However, when she talks violets, you can see their is an evident fear of her losing her voice and becoming older. I interpreted both of these poems to be a metaphor for growth. With her pumpkin display, she wishes for humanity to grow in harmony. With her violet obsession (or fear), she is afraid of losing her youth and growing older. However, both are inevitable things in our mortal lives, and there is a lot that can be learned by accepting growth and change in our lives:

Unfortunately photography was only allowed on the top and bottom floors, but I had a very relaxing time walking through this museum and learning about Kusama’s artistic vision.  The exhibitions at this museum change every few months, but you can see the current exhibitions listed here.  The entrance fee is only 1000 yen, and you must purchase tickets in advance online, but it is well worth it for the experience.  I hope this museum continues its visitors to grow and accept change!