This is my first week back at work and I was really in no mood to start working again, so I’m only doing half days this week. This afternoon after work we all went to Moderna Museet to see an exhibition of Yayoi Kusama.

There was less of it than I had hoped, and frankly I found her early paintings rather boring. Perhaps they would have been of interest if I’d gone there as an art student or journalist, trying to understand how she ended up creating what she has been creating recently.

The later, more abstract paintings were more interesting. I especially liked the “infinity net” paintings (go google them). Seen up close, the picture disappeared and instead the act of painting became visible. At medium distance it was just randomness, and stepping back further suddenly there was an overall structure to it.

Her large-scale dotted installations were most fun, especially the infinity themed ones. “Infinity Mirrored Room: Hymn of Life” was my favourite. A dark room with mirrors in all directions, filled with large paper lamps with black dots. The lamps changed colour, which made this installation feel more alive than the others. Somehow the sizes and colours and placement of the balls were such that the whole room felt welcoming and comfortable, whereas some of the other dotted infinity installations were more weird and alien.

Yayoi Kusama, Infinity Mirrored Room – Hymn of Life.
Photo: Vegard Kleven/HOK. Licensed under CC BY 3.0