A while ago, walking along the Yarra, I was surprised to come across a series of clusters of largeish red and white polka-dotted objects, scattered along and around the path - playful and whimsical, and coming on like some unlikely transplant from the world down the rabbit hole, they were delightful. It turned out that they were the work of an artist named Yayoi Kusama, who I hadn't heard of at the time, but that installation made enough of an impression that the name stuck, particularly once I noticed another - and equally pleasing - work of hers in the NGV's permanent collection (the illuminated ladder between two mirrors in a darkened room).
So I didn't want to miss the chance to see more of her stuff since there happened to be a small retrospective on in Wellington while we were in town a couple of week ago, and it didn't disappoint. Analogies with other artists' work are easy to find (they always are) - Bridget Riley for one (who I like a lot), Andy Warhol for another (who I really, really don't) - but my strongest impression was that she really is just making art that expresses her own idiosyncratic worldview without any concessions to fashions or others' sensibilities. Dots and colours are everywhere, and most of the works are large-scale (many immersive, and some literally room-sized) - most enjoyable.
