Infinity Mirror Room-Phalli’s Field (or Floor Show) 1965 / 2013. Courtesy of the artist.
Currently on view in Mexico City’s Museo Tamayo, influential Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s first Latin American retrospective, “Obsesión Infinita” (or “Infinite Obsession”), features an extensive array of interdisciplinary works created from 1950 to 2014. Kusama’s career has taken many turns over the years (we covered her work at length in HF Vol. 25), but the artist has always maintained her penchant for the experimental and irreverent.
The exhibition features her recent polkadot paintings as well as works on paper, videos, photos, sculptures, and installations — most famously the mirrored, immersive environments she calls Infinity Rooms. Repeating motifs distinguish Kusama’s work across disciplines. The exhibit explores the ways her obsessions with certain patterns and images define her practice. “Obsesión Infinita” comes to a close on January 18, so we recommend that our Mexican readers see it while they can.
Yayoi Kusama, 2011. Courtesy of Victoria Miro Gallery, London, Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo and Yayoi Kusama Studio Inc. © Yayoi Kusama
Kusama on the floor of Infinity Mirror Room – Phalli’s Field. 1965. Photo by Eikoh Hosoe.
Photo by Daniela Uribe
Photo by Daniela Uribe
Photo by Daniela Uribe
Photo by Daniela Uribe
Photo by Daniela Uribe
Photo by Daniela Uribe
Photo by Daniela Uribe
Photo by Daniela Uribe
Photo by Daniela Uribe
Photo by Daniela Uribe
Photo by Daniela Uribe
Photo by Daniela Uribe
In Michael Craig-Martin's sculptural practice, he creates enormous versions of everyday objects that appear as though they were drawn. In a show ending this week, he offered new works in this vein at Gagosian's Britannia Street location in London. This was the first time works in this series were shown indoors.
Artist/architect Mohamad Hafez uses found objects and scraps to craft politically and socially charged Middle Eastern streetscapes. His "UNPACKED: Refugee Baggage" series adds an audio component, with the sculptures of homes and other structures existing inside open suitcases. The narratives offered are of real people from Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Congo, and elsewhere.
South African artist Mary Sibande explores race, history, gender, and other social themes, her visceral mixed-media figures constructed from fiberglass, cotton, resin, and other materials. She uses a sculptural representation of herself, Sophie, to also look at her own family’s generational narrative. Her practice also includes photography, integrating the themes of her sculptures and installations.