Yayoi Kusama: You, Me and the Balloons is the first publication dedicated to Yayoi Kusama's inflatable artworks - her fantastically large balloon environments that seem to defy gravity and seductively play with our sense of space and scale, mind and body, reality and illusion. Kusama (b. 1929) is well known and loved by the Louisiana audience – among other things for the infinity mirror room with the thousands of colored lights, Gleaming Lights of the Souls.
The Japanese artist's pioneering career spans seven decades, and she is now a global phenomenon. Her world of dots, pumpkins, hallucinatory paintings, sculptures and immersive environments invites us to participate in her very personal artistic investigation of the great cosmic questions of human existence.
Profusely illustrated with a new essay by the poet and critic Akira Tatehata; a new interview with Yayoi Kusama about her 'balloons'; a new conversation between psychotherapist Philippa Perry and neuroscientist Professor Anil Seth about Kusama's perceptual magic; and a complete illustrated history of Kusama's inflatable works of art.
The book also includes an updated text by curators Seungduk Kim and Franck Gautherot about a magical decade working with Kusama and her inflatables; and an extensive illustrated artist biography including images and ephemera from Kusama's archive.
Published to coincide with the exhibition 'Yayoi Kusama: You, Me and the Balloons', 30 June – 28 August 2023, the first exhibition at the UK's most ambitious new cultural venue, Factory International, Manchester, UK.
Dimensions: 29.7 x 21 cm
Pages: 144
Language: English
Author: Yayoi Kusama et al.
Publisher: Cornerhouse Publications