1st Room: Love Forever
1. What techniques did Kusama use to unify her canvases?
– repetition of shapes/motifs (e.g eyes, circles, triangles
– monochromatic palette
2. Describe her use of space?
– all-over composition
– no subject in focus, fills the entire canvas
3. 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?
– overwhelmed, as the paintings tower over and surround us
4. What do the marks and forms in these black and white paintings remind you of?
– blackheads, my nose
2nd Room: Tulip Room Walk into the Tulip Room
1. How does your emotional response change going from Love Forever to the Tulip Room?
-unsettled (way too bright, too many colours…I can’t)
2. Does the Tulip Room evoke any memories? What are the sculptural forms telling you?
-M&Ms and smarties YUMYARRRMYAMYUM
– Doesn’t tell me much actually, seem like mere decorative objects
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 affect you differently? How do you feel?
-as more than one colour is used, the environment feels much more vibrant and exciting.
2. What techniques does Kusama use to unify the color canvases?
– repetition (the use of motifs)
– heavy, bold, black marker used
3. Compare the right & left walls. What are the difference in the emotions evoked by these different walls?
– RIGHT: looks like linocut, only 2 colours used
– LEFT: black + 2 colours
– The paintings on the right are less imposing with the absence of the heavy black lines.
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.
– experiencing it on its own there seems to be a lack of context
– looks like decorative objects
Room 5: Early Works
1. What painting techniques is Kusama using in the 1st five small paintings? What types of marks are used?
– layering
– dabbing and stamping
– dry brushing
Infinity Nets:
1. What is meant by the term “Repetitive All-over Approach”?
– The canvas is filled edge to edge with no particular focus or main subject.
2. 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?
– d i z z y y y s o d i z z y
3. Describe 1 or 2 of the Infinity Net paintings.
– 1
– Subject: Net
– Content: Hallucinations she experienced as a child
– Materials: Oil on canvas
– Technique: Small loops painted over a monochromatic ground. All-over lattice patterns
Death of a Nerve:
1. How does the title affect your understanding and response to the piece?
– The title shapes our interpretation of the work
– Bleak
