A German museum celebrates famed Japanese artist Kusama in a vast new exhibition

Cologne, Germany — Mirrored room with colored dots. Fringed, luminous sculptures of flowers on the roof at the foot of Cologne’s famous cathedral. A spacious showroom with gigantic octopus-like tentacles, it offers a mesmerizing meander through space and obstacles.

The renowned Museum Ludwig in the western German city is celebrating its 50th anniversary on Saturday by opening a nearly five-month exhibition of more than 300 works by renowned Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.

Gathers a journey through time and transformation of the late artist, from his first drawing in the mid-1930s to the newly commissioned “Infinity Mirror Room” for the exhibition.

Kusama, who turns 97 this month, has become a social media sensation with her use of bright colors and OG shapes that reflect her awe at life. Her own life took her from postwar patriarchal Japan to New York to the Flower Power and anti-Vietnam War movements of the 1960s. He returned to Japan in 1973.

According to curator Stephen Diederich, the exhibition, which runs until August 2, is “very diverse, wide-ranging and depicts an enormously rich, creative life spanning more than eight decades, still looking ahead.”

Works from his series “My Eternal Soul, 2009-2021,” including a patchwork of paintings to “The Universe as Seen from the Heaven to Heaven” — are made of mirror, glass and acrylic sheet. The museum entrance hosts the widely recognized 2009 “Pumpkin” of fiber-reinforced plastic and polyurethane paint belonging to the Museum Voorlinden in the Netherlands.

A rooftop exhibit from 2018 includes painted-bronze sculptures “Flowers that speak of my heart are given to the sky” and “I’m here, but nothing,” whose origins date back to 2000, with fluorescent stickers and ultraviolet fluorescent lights illuminating the home object.

“Kusama is undoubtedly one of the most important artists of our time,” he said. “Her mirror rooms, balloon installations and polka dots achieved cult status and are now iconic.”

His multifaceted works often deal with the world of nature. She grew up in the greenhouses and fields of her family’s enormous seed nursery in Matsumoto, Japan. When Kusama was young, she began having vivid hallucinations, some of which involved polka dots or flowers scattered around her. She struggled through existential anxieties.

“In my more than 70 years as an artist, I have always been in awe of the wonders of life,” he said in a statement. “Above all, this strong sense of life force in artistic expression has supported me and given me strength to overcome feelings of depression, hopelessness and sadness.

“I am guided by my faith in this power,” Kusama said.

Diederich said Kusama lived in relative seclusion for years at the Tokyo clinic and communicated “indirectly” with the curatorial team. She said she still works out every day, “as much as her health allows” and has taken an active interest in performing.