LOVE IS CALLING with Yayoi Kusama at the Tampa Museum of Art

This exhibit is one-third of the museum's fall Season of Love.

click to enlarge Yayoi Kusama (Japanese, b. 1929), 'LOVE IS CALLING,' 2013. Wood, metal,  glass mirrors, tile, acrylic panel, rubber, blowers, lighting element, speakers and sound. 174  1/2  x  340  5/8  x  239  3/8  inches.  Vinik Family Foundation Collection. Courtesy David Zwirner, New York; Ota Fine Arts,  Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai;  Victoria  Miro,  London/Venice. - Yayoi Kusama
Yayoi Kusama
Yayoi Kusama (Japanese, b. 1929), 'LOVE IS CALLING,' 2013. Wood, metal, glass mirrors, tile, acrylic panel, rubber, blowers, lighting element, speakers and sound. 174 1/2 x 340 5/8 x 239 3/8 inches. Vinik Family Foundation Collection. Courtesy David Zwirner, New York; Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai; Victoria Miro, London/Venice.

Tampa Museum of Art's 'Season of Love' continues with Yayoi Kusama's LOVE IS CALLING, one of her paradigmatic Infinity Rooms. Kusama's Infinity Rooms offer immersive experiences where visitors walk through a mirrored room. In this installation — on loan from the Vinik Family Foundation's collection — that's a walk through color-changing, soft tentacles stretching up from the ground and down from the ceiling. Polka dots adorn the tentacles, as is the artist's style, and as you walk through the room you hear Kusama reciting — in Japanese — a love poem she wrote, Residing in a Castle of Shed Tears. The poem is emblematic of themes that appear in her art: It includes her thoughts on love, life and death.


Yayoi Kusama: LOVE IS CALLING | Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa | Sept. 26-Feb. 14

WE LOVE OUR READERS!

Since 1988, CL Tampa Bay has served as the free, independent voice of Tampa Bay, and we want to keep it that way.

Becoming a CL Tampa Bay Supporter for as little as $5 a month allows us to continue offering readers access to our coverage of local news, food, nightlife, events, and culture with no paywalls.

Join today because you love us, too.

Cathy Salustri

Cathy's portfolio includes pieces for Visit Florida, USA Today and regional and local press. In 2016, UPF published Backroads of Paradise, her travel narrative about retracing the WPA-era Florida driving tours that was featured in The New York Times. Cathy speaks about Florida history for the Osher Lifelong Learning...
Scroll to read more Local Arts articles

Join Creative Loafing Tampa Bay Newsletters

Subscribe now to get the latest news delivered right to your inbox.