I Want Your Tears to Flow with the Words I Wrote: Yayoi Kusama

Ota Fine Arts Tokyo is pleased to present the solo exhibition of Yayoi Kusama, "I Want Your Tears to Flow with the Words I Wrote". This exhibition features 33 paintings, which are the latest works from her My Eternal Soul series, as well as the installation piece CLOUDS. Exhibitions of the same title will be held simultaneously at Victoria Miro (London) and David Zwirner (New York). These three exhibitions in the respective locations will present to the world a total of 101 paintings from the My Eternal Soul series, made by the artist who has continued to work tirelessly during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Since 2009, Kusama has been working continuously on her My Eternal Soul series. While the series is often represented by a large-format canvas of 194 x 194 cm, Kusama started to concentrate on an intimate dimension of 100 x 100 cm since 2018. Part of these works were realized in a series of black and white monochrome paintings that were shown in the solo exhibitions "Yayoi Kusama: Recent Paintings" held at our galleries in Shanghai and Singapore in 2020, receiving a worldwide response.

Now, in a world consumed by the pandemic, Kusama has returned to the world of colors and continues to work on her paintings, including canvases expanded to 130 x 130 cm. Twelve years have passed since the start of My Eternal Soul, and it has grown to include over 800 pieces. From this vast body of works, we are pleased to present 33 paintings selected from the recent three years.

The other highlight of the exhibition is CLOUDS, where stainless steel sculptural forms with a mirrored finish cover the gallery floor, representing numerous clouds. The brush strokes of the paintings on the walls reflect diffusely on the shiny metal surfaces, creating the effect of the My Eternal Soul filling up the entire gallery.

Kusama's message to the world during this time of the pandemic is as follows, somewhat describing thoughts behind her vigorous production:

Though it glistens just out of reach, I continue to pray for hope to shine through
Its glimmer lighting our way
This long awaited great cosmic glow
(excerpt)

The artist's strong will to save the world is what supports her tireless solitary work. We hope that you will visit the exhibition and experience Kusama's soul through her works.