A photo of Yayoi kusama with her paintings. Photo by  Yusuke Miyazaki.
A photo of Yayoi kusama with her paintings. Photo by  Yusuke Miyazaki.

Yayoi Kusama: I WANT YOUR TEARS TO FLOW WITH THE WORDS I WROTE

David Zwirner is pleased to present I WANT YOUR TEARS TO FLOW WITH THE WORDS I WROTE,  featuring new My Eternal Soul paintings by Yayoi Kusama, at the gallery’s 537 West 20th Street location in New York. Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, and Victoria Miro, London, will show concurrent presentations with works from this series this summer.

 

The first comprehensive retrospective of the artist’s work is currently on view at Gropius Bau, Berlin, through August 15, 2021. KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature is also currently on view at The New York Botanical Garden through October 31, 2021, and Tate Modern, London, is presenting Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms through June 12, 2022. 

 

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Image: Yayoi Kusama. Photo by Yusuke Miyazaki

Planning Your Visit

 

Please note the 20th Street gallery will be open to the public with a limited number of visitors allowed into the exhibition spaces at a time, in accordance with city guidelines.

 

To schedule your visit, please click here.

An installation view of an exhibition titled, Yayoi Kusama I WANT YOUR TEARS TO FLOW WITH THE WORDS I WROTE, at David Zwirner, New York, in 2021.

Installation view, Yayoi Kusama: I WANT YOUR TEARS TO FLOW WITH THE WORDS I WROTE, David Zwirner, New York, 2021

Installation view, Yayoi Kusama: I WANT YOUR TEARS TO FLOW WITH THE WORDS I WROTE, David Zwirner, New York, 2021

An installation view of an exhibition titled, Yayoi Kusama I WANT YOUR TEARS TO FLOW WITH THE WORDS I WROTE, at David Zwirner, New York, in 2021.

Installation view, Yayoi Kusama: I WANT YOUR TEARS TO FLOW WITH THE WORDS I WROTE, David Zwirner, New York, 2021

Installation view, Yayoi Kusama: I WANT YOUR TEARS TO FLOW WITH THE WORDS I WROTE, David Zwirner, New York, 2021

My entire life has been painted here.
Every day, any day.
I will never cease dedicating my whole life
to my love for the universe.
Oh my dearest art.
With the challenge of creating new art, I work as if dying;
these works are my everything.


Yayoi Kusama, 2020

A detail from a painting by Yayoi Kusama, titled MAY YOU WHO PASSED AWAY DISPLAY YOUR BEAUTY FOREVER, dated 2020.

Yayoi Kusama, MAY YOU WHO PASSED AWAY DISPLAY YOUR BEAUTY FOREVER, 2020 (detail)

 

Yayoi Kusama, MAY YOU WHO PASSED AWAY DISPLAY YOUR BEAUTY FOREVER, 2020 (detail)

 
A detail from a painting by Yayoi Kusama, titled GATHERING OF THE PEOPLE FOREVER CRYING OUT FOR PEACE, dated 2020.

Yayoi Kusama, GATHERING OF THE PEOPLE FOREVER CRYING OUT FOR PEACE, 2020 (detail)

Yayoi Kusama, GATHERING OF THE PEOPLE FOREVER CRYING OUT FOR PEACE, 2020 (detail)

My Eternal Soul is a luminous hymn to life, a vision that could be described as cosmic, microscopic, or, depending on your point of view, otherworldly.” 

Akira Tatehata, 2021

A portrait of Yayoi Kusama, dated 2020.

Yayoi Kusama working on My Eternal Soul paintings in her studio, Tokyo, 2014

Yayoi Kusama working on My Eternal Soul paintings in her studio, Tokyo, 2014

Conveying the extraordinary vitality that characterizes Kusama’s oeuvre, each painting is an innovative exploration of form, subject matter, and space, in which abstract and figurative elements combine to offer impressions of both microscopic and macroscopic universes. 

A painting by Yayoi Kusama, titled I WHO DISCOVERED A DREAM OF LOVE, dated 2020.

Yayoi Kusama

I WHO DISCOVERED A DREAM OF LOVE, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
39 3/8 x 39 3/8 inches (100 x 100 cm)
A painting by Yayoi Kusama, titled PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR LOVE WITH HEAVENLY BEAUTY, dated 2020.

Yayoi Kusama

PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR LOVE WITH HEAVENLY BEAUTY, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
39 3/8 x 39 3/8 inches (100 x 100 cm)
An installation view of an exhibition titled Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective – A Bouquet of Love I Saw in the Universe, at Gropius Bau in Berlin in 2021.

Installation view, Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective – A Bouquet of Love I Saw in the Universe, Gropius Bau, Berlin, 2021

Installation view, Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective – A Bouquet of Love I Saw in the Universe, Gropius Bau, Berlin, 2021

An installation view of an exhibition titled Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective – A Bouquet of Love I Saw in the Universe, at Gropius Bau in Berlin in 2021.

Installation view, Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective – A Bouquet of Love I Saw in the Universe, Gropius Bau, Berlin, 2021

Installation view, Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective – A Bouquet of Love I Saw in the Universe, Gropius Bau, Berlin, 2021

An installation view of an exhibition titled Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective – A Bouquet of Love I Saw in the Universe, at Gropius Bau in Berlin in 2021.

Installation view, Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective – A Bouquet of Love I Saw in the Universe, Gropius Bau, Berlin, 2021

Installation view, Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective – A Bouquet of Love I Saw in the Universe, Gropius Bau, Berlin, 2021

Recent My Eternal Soul paintings are also featured in Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective – A Bouquet of Love I Saw in the Universe, on view at Gropius Bau in Berlin through August 15, 2021. The exhibition surveys key periods in Kusama’s career of more than seventy years, and features early paintings and accumulative sculptures as well as immersive environments and recent paintings.

“Her artistic position is characterized by revolutionary interventions driven by the desire for an immersive union of body and artwork.… The striving to be in the picture is central to Kusama’s oeuvre.”

Stephanie Rosenthal, 2021

A painting by Yayoi Kusama, titled A SCENE I PAINTED ON CHANCING UPON MY OWN DEATH, dated 2020.

Yayoi Kusama

A SCENE I PAINTED ON CHANCING UPON MY OWN DEATH, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
39 3/8 x 39 3/8 inches (100 x 100 cm)
A painting by Yayoi Kusama, titled THE RADIANCE I PAINTED FACING SUICIDE, dated 2020.

Yayoi Kusama

THE RADIANCE I PAINTED FACING SUICIDE, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
39 3/8 x 39 3/8 inches (100 x 100 cm)

“You can dive into the vertiginous delights of dots and infinite reflection at Kusama: Cosmic Nature, an expansive show of outdoor sculptures, along with special gallery exhibits and installations, set among the flowering cherries of the New York Botanical Garden.… The overall idea of setting Kusama’s repetitive dots against the teeming profusion of a botanical garden is inspired.”

 

—Will Heinrich, The New York Times, 2021

Kusama: Cosmic Nature
is on view through October 31, 2021, at the New York Botanical Garden.

An installation view of an exhibition titled Kusama: Cosmic Nature at New York Botanical Garden in 2021.

Installation view, Kusama: Cosmic Nature, New York Botanical Garden, 2021

Installation view, Kusama: Cosmic Nature, New York Botanical Garden, 2021

An installation view of an exhibition titled Kusama: Cosmic Nature at New York Botanical Garden in 2021.

Installation view, Kusama: Cosmic Nature, New York Botanical Garden, 2021

Installation view, Kusama: Cosmic Nature, New York Botanical Garden, 2021

An installation view of an exhibition titled Kusama: Cosmic Nature at New York Botanical Garden in 2021.

Installation view, Kusama: Cosmic Nature, New York Botanical Garden, 2021

Installation view, Kusama: Cosmic Nature, New York Botanical Garden, 2021

An installation view of an exhibition titled Kusama: Cosmic Nature at New York Botanical Garden in 2021.

Installation view, Kusama: Cosmic Nature, New York Botanical Garden, 2021

Installation view, Kusama: Cosmic Nature, New York Botanical Garden, 2021

“When I start the paintings my mind is completely empty.… When I was young, maybe ten years old, I started to make art like this from my mind.… I still want to find out new things from my work. It’s a spiritual energy that I need.… I am always thinking about the cosmos when I start a painting.”

Yayoi Kusama, 2016

An instalaltion view of an exhibition titled Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms, at Tate modern in 2021.

Installation view, Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms, Tate Modern, London, 2021

Installation view, Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms, Tate Modern, London, 2021

On view at Tate Modern in London through June 12, 2022, Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms presents two of the artist’s famous immersive installations: Infinity Mirrored Room – Filled with the Brilliance of Life and Chandelier of Grief.

A detail from a painting by Yayoi Kusama, titled HUMANITYS FIERY SPIRIT IS MANIFEST AT CARNIVAL, LET US PRAY FOR PEACE AND, YES, IGNITE MORE FLAMES, dated 2020.

Yayoi Kusama, HUMANITY'S FIERY SPIRIT IS MANIFEST AT CARNIVAL, LET US PRAY FOR PEACE AND, YES, IGNITE MORE FLAMES, 2020 (detail)

Yayoi Kusama, HUMANITY'S FIERY SPIRIT IS MANIFEST AT CARNIVAL, LET US PRAY FOR PEACE AND, YES, IGNITE MORE FLAMES, 2020 (detail)

A detail from a painting by Yayoi Kusama, titled I SING MY ETERNAL SPIRIT, dated 2020.

Yayoi Kusama, I SING MY ETERNAL SPIRIT, 2020 (detail)

Yayoi Kusama, I SING MY ETERNAL SPIRIT, 2020 (detail)

Every Day I Pray for Love, Kusama’s most personal book to date, brings us into her private world through poetic recollections, giving insight into her creative process and the essential role language plays in her paintings, sculptures, and daily life.

A photo from a book titled Yayoi Kusama: Every Day I Pray for Love, dated 2021.
A page from a book by Yayoi kusama titled Every Day I Pray for Love, dated 2021.
A photo from a book titled Yayoi Kusama: Every Day I Pray for Love, dated 2021.
A photo from a book titled Yayoi Kusama: Every Day I Pray for Love, dated 2021.
A painting by Yayoi Kusama, titled I WHO ASPIRED TO THE BEAUTY OF A BRILLIANT RED SUNSET GLOW, dated 2020.

Yayoi Kusama

I WHO ASPIRED TO THE BEAUTY OF A BRILLIANT RED SUNSET GLOW, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
39 3/8 x 39 3/8 inches (100 x 100 cm)
A painting by Yayoi Kusama, titled TO THE BEAUTY OF LIVING, dated 2020.

Yayoi Kusama

TO THE BEAUTY OF LIVING, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
39 3/8 x 39 3/8 inches (100 x 100 cm)
A detail from a painting by Yayoi Kusama, titled TOGETHER WITH GOD, MY SPIRIT WAS PRAYING FOR LIFE, dated 2020.

Yayoi Kusama, TOGETHER WITH GOD, MY SPIRIT WAS PRAYING FOR LIFE, 2020 (detail)

Yayoi Kusama, TOGETHER WITH GOD, MY SPIRIT WAS PRAYING FOR LIFE, 2020 (detail)

A detail from a painting by Yayoi Kusama, titled AT A TURNING POINT IN LIFE I PONDERED HOW TO LIVE, dated 2020.

Yayoi Kusama, AT A TURNING POINT IN LIFE I PONDERED HOW TO LIVE, 2020 (detail)

Yayoi Kusama, AT A TURNING POINT IN LIFE I PONDERED HOW TO LIVE, 2020 (detail)

“The current work reveals Kusama’s marvelous talent as a colorist.… Viewers are naturally attracted by the great capacity of these paintings for embracing different aspects of the world.”

—Akira Tatehata, Yayoi Kusama: I Who Have Arrived in Heaven, 2014

An installation view of an exhibition titled Yayoi Kusama: I Want Your Tears to Flow with the Words I Wrote at Victoria miro, London, in 2021.

Installation view, Yayoi Kusama: I Want Your Tears to Flow with the Words I Wrote, Victoria Miro, London, 2021

Installation view, Yayoi Kusama: I Want Your Tears to Flow with the Words I Wrote, Victoria Miro, London, 2021

An installation view of an exhibition titled Yayoi Kusama: I Want Your Tears to Flow with the Words I Wrote at Victoria miro, London, in 2021.

Installation view, Yayoi Kusama: I Want Your Tears to Flow with the Words I Wrote, Victoria Miro, London, 2021

Installation view, Yayoi Kusama: I Want Your Tears to Flow with the Words I Wrote, Victoria Miro, London, 2021

Concurrent exhibitions of the artist’s My Eternal Soul paintings go on view this month at Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo, and Victoria Miro, London.

A portrait of Yayoi kusama, dated 2020.

Yayoi Kusama in front of her My Eternal Soul paintings

Yayoi Kusama in front of her My Eternal Soul paintings

A detail from a painting by 	Yayoi Kusama, titled I WHO SLEEP IN A ILLUSION WORLD, dated 2020.

Learn more about works by Yayoi Kusama

© YAYOI KUSAMA

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