In celebration of the 110th anniversary of Philip Johnson’s birth and the 10th anniversary of the opening of the The Glass House site to the public, Dots Obsession-Alive, Seeking for Eternal Hope is a site-specific installation by Yayoi Kusama about the power of art to transform pain into beauty and meaning.
Ph. Matthew Placek
“We are honored to be working with Yayoi Kusama, an artist Philip Johnson both admired and collected. This exhibition playfully engages the entire site, creating a celebratory mood for Philip Johnson’s 110th birthday and the 10th year since the opening of this museum,” said Irene Shum, Curator and Collections Manager at the Glass House.
Dots Obsession – Alive, Seeking for Eternal Hope, for a limited time, September 1 through 26, will create an “infinity room” experience with the Glass House itself covered with polka dots.
The Glass House’s window walls and doors allow the artist to create a one-of-a-kind signature “infinity room.” The polka dots directly engage the architecture of the Glass House, complementing its structure and aesthetics, breathing new life into the house. For Kusama, the polka dot represents an individual, its own universe. Similarly, Philip Johnson created his own private universe at the Glass House, sculpting every aspect of landscape experience into his own universe.
Yayoi Kusama, Dots Obsession-Alive, Seeking for Eternal Hope, installation view at Glass House, 2016
“My desire is to measure and to make order of the infinite, unbounded universe from my own position within it, with polka dots. – In exploring this, the single dot is my own life, and I am a single particle amongst billions. – I work with the principal themes of infinity, self-image, and compulsive repetition in objects and forms, such as the steel spheres of Narcissus Garden and the mirrored walls I have created.” said Kusama.
Yayoi Kusama, Dots Obsession-Alive, Seeking for Eternal Hope, installation view at Glass House, 2016
Ph. Matthew Placek
The installation consists of more than 1200 low tack adhesive vinyl circles of three varying sizes (12cm, 18cm, and 25cm) applied to the walls and doors of all four facades of the Glass House. The “Pepsi Red” polka dots brightly contrast the lush late summer green landscape of the Glass House, then will complement the emerging autumn colors of New England.
Yayoi Kusama, Dots Obsession-Alive, Seeking for Eternal Hope, installation view at Glass House, 2016
Cover image: Yayoi Kusama, Dots Obsession-Alive, Seeking for Eternal Hope, installation view at Glass House, 2016
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