Yayoi Kusama’s Exhibition

1st Room: Love Forever

  1. What techniques is Kusama using to unifying her canvases?

Organic forms, black and white tone, multiply in elements, movement in forms, scale, contrast.

  1. Describe her use of space?

Negative and positive spaces. Most of the spaces were tightly packed.

  1. What emotional responses do you have when standing in front of her paintings? Can you observe anything about the relationship of the size of the paintings to your own body?

I felt inner an expression of inner turmoil, fears, constricted feelings and lost. Her artworks make me feel her multi personalities. The scale of the artworks are huge compared to my body. It brings anxiety when I am looking up at the large of scale of the painting.

  1. What do the marks and forms in these black and white paintings remind you of?

It reminds me of fear, organisms and insects. The jagged forms remind me of monster’s teeth.

 

2nd Room: Tulip Room Walk into the Tulip Room

  1. How does your emotional response change going from Love Forever to the Tulip Room?

It was overwhelming, enclosed, bright and have a playfulness touch to it.

  1. Does the Tulip Room evoke any memories? What are the sculptural forms telling you?

It evokes the playful memories during childhood. The sculptural forms seems to express growth, change and distortion.

 

3rd Room: My Eternal Soul: Walk into the room My Eternal Soul 

  1. Compare the use of color to the Black and White painting in Forever Love. How does the color effect you differently? How do you feel?

It creates openness. It feels like a dreamland or wonderland. It was expressive, uncertain, fun and less gloomy.

  1. What techniques does Kusama use to unity the color canvases?

She used bright, vibrant colours which were also high in contrast. The forms were more dynamic and have a sense of movement through the expression of dots and lines that flow in different group of directions.

  1. Compare the rt & left walls. What are the difference in the emotions evoked by these different walls?

The left wall seems like the gate or entrance to another world, while the right wall makes me feel like I am in the process/transition of transporting into another world.

 

4th Room: Narcissus Garden

  1. What differences do you see between experiencing the Narcissus Garden on its own and knowing/imagining Kusama’s actions during the Venice Biennale where she wore the kimono and sold the balls. Please read the wall information about the performance.

Before understanding the back story, it feels like I am in control and top of the world because the balls were arranged on low ground. After knowing her story, it made me felt that she had a hard time during that period and she had probably tried to take control of the situation by selling her artwork.

 

Room 5: Early Works

  1. What painting techniques is Kusama using in the 1st five small paintings? What types of marks are used?

Ink, charcoal.

 

Infinity Nets:

  1. What is meant by the term “Repetitive All-over Approach”?

It means the usage of repetitive techniques throughout the canvas.

  1. Compare your emotional responses of the white Infinity Net paintings to the color Infinity net paintings on the opposite walls. What happens when you stare at these paintings?

The white painting makes me feel more calm, while the coloured painting makes me feel uneasy, uncomfortable and stressful to view. When I stared at these paintings, it felt like I had entered into another dimension due to the depth and various sizes of colours and forms.

  1. Describe 1 or 2 of the infinity Net paintings

Subject: Loops, circles, dots.

content: Calming tones and colours.

materials: Acrylic on canvas.

techniques: Thick brush strokes of dots and loops.

 

Death of a Nerve:

  1. How does the title effect your understanding and response to the piece?

She probably wanted to express the breakdown period of her nerve which caused her stress, anxiety and uncertain emotions.

 

Pumpkins:

 Kusama’s pumpkins represent “comfort and security” for her. (Please read the wall information) Talk about an object that would serve as a meaningful representation of a part of your past or signifies your family history. What is the object and why?

I think my family history represents root. It signifies support and the spine of my family. Root might not be visible to the sight but it is always there to support.

Technology, Art & Fashion – Breathe

Designed by Ng Pei Ling

IMG_1541My aim is to create awareness for inner beauty. I would like to focus on using rope as a material to express the idea. In this modern society, through the influence of social media, the idea of beauty varies, focusing more on the physical beauty rather than the inner beauty.

Rope represents your connection and attachment to others, as what the society wants. Alternatively, rope signifies bondage, restriction and captivity, which also mean that we are restricted by other judgment to influence our personal belief of beauty. The idea of inner beauty is portray as light beaming from the complexity of the rope’s pattern.

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IMG_1498Close up on details – interlocking of LED strip and rope

IMG_1513Back view

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Close up on back view

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Breathe