Thousands queue to see Yayoi Kusama exhibit in New York
Claire Laueriere, a tourist from Lille, France, said she was very cold but willing to wait to see the works.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The line of people waiting to enter the Yoyoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room at the David Zwirner Gallery in New York’s Chelsea folded around the block on a cold and wet Tuesday morning.
Gallery staff said the wait was about two hours, but those waiting didn’t seem to mind.
Claire Laueriere, a tourist from Lille, France, said she was very cold but willing to wait to see the works.
Kusama’s works, Lauriere said, "are naive, but they touch me very deep, and, for a few minutes, I forget everything, and I’m like someone else."
It’s not the first time the David Zwirner Gallery has hosted the 90-year-old Japanese artist Yoyoi Kusama’s works.
But this is the first time when the gallery estimates the total number of visitors will reach 100,000 for the month-long showing that closes on December 14.
The main draw of the exhibit is Yoyoi’s "Infinity Mirrored Room", a dark space filed with light bulbs that flash in white and red and are reflected on mirrored walls, being shown for the first time.
"It’s just a surreal feeling," said San Franciscan, Edric Chew.
"You’re in this room by yourself. You have, I think, about a few seconds to yourself, and you get to reflect, you get to take it all in, and just enjoy the art, and how Yayoi expressed herself in this kind of form of art."
Just like many other people in the long line in front of the gallery, Chew said he hoped to be able to snap some pictures and take a video to post it to his Instagram.
Kusama is famous for her use of of colors and polka dots in her works. As a young woman, she left highly patriarchal Japan and moved to the United States. She lived in New York City in the 1960s and was a contemporary of Andy Warhol.
Gallery senior partner Hanna Schouwink said the lines and the popularity of the artist should not detract from her status as a serious artist.
"It’s very easy to get sidetracked by all of the noise around her, you know, all the lines and all the attention and all that," Schouwink said.
"This is a major artist, who’s made incredible contributions to art history, which she hasn’t always gotten credit for. And she, she makes extremely important, and powerful, and compelling work."
In addition to the "Infinity Mirrored Room", visitors can see Kusama’s paintings, installations, and sculptures.
"I just think it’s really interesting, like, the way that she uses an entire space for her work," said Aya Siguion - Reyna, visiting from Manilla, Philippines. "I guess it’s just very visually exciting to look at. And, yeah, it’s just really interesting to see, like, the colors and the textures."
According to Schouwink, Kusama is the top-selling female artist living today.
