Provenance
Gagosian Gallery, New York
Exhibited
New York, Gagosian Gallery, Yayoi Kusama, Steven Parrino, Anselm Reyle, 13 March – 19 April, 2008
Catalogue Essay
“I have done all the work myself, not assistants. That’s why I’m in a wheelchair, I’ve been doing it physically – it’s hard labour – throughout my life.”
YAYOI KUSAMA

In Infinity Nets OPQR, 2007, an intensely worked illusion fills the entirety of the canvas in a pure and soft palette of whites and grays. The surface collides and collapses as the biomorphic forms pulse inward and outward, extending beyond the boundaries of the composition. Kusama forged her way through the New York art scene in the 1950s with her drive to cover vast canvases with steady, yet insistent tracts of small, thickly painted loops. The present lot, while recently conceived, is a mere window into a six decade long obsession with the motif. No. F, 1959, at the Museum of Modern Art, created nearly five decades earlier, contains the same supple color palette, as well as isotropic loops that fill the canvas. Kusama has rendered infinity, something limitless and unbounded, within the framework of a readymade canvas. However, Infinity Nets OPQR, 2007, is no object, but a living and breathing physical embodiment of both “infinity” and “abstraction,” as if the philosophical queries are performing before us.

The fine mesh of circular patterns across the canvas offers a direct and sentient encounter with the surface. Nearly a decade before Minimalism’s command, Kusama was already creating an environment that necessitated the spectator’s participation in order to diminish the distinction between art and life. By repeating this single motif, Kusama released painting from the canvas, as the loops dance beyond the overturned edges of the frame. In the present lot, the waves are naturalistic as they arc in and out of the deep waters, leaving variations in the surface as light bounces in and off the creases left in their wake. Thin layers of darker grays are applied to suggest depth, furthering the illusion of endlessly recurring waves. There is something nurturing in the repetitive and soft canvas. There are vast meanings in the surface of the present lot, just as there is an infinite variety of meanings in all things – a view that has remained unchanged since Kusama began painting the Infinity Nets at the age of thirteen.
Artist Biography
Yayoi Kusama
Japanese
Named "the world's most popular artist" in 2015, it's not hard to see why Yayoi Kusama continues to dazzle contemporary art audiences globally. From her signature polka dots—"fabulous," she calls them—to her mirror-and-light Infinity Rooms, Kusama's multi-dimensional practice of making art elevates the experience of immersion. To neatly pin an artistic movement onto Kusama would be for naught: She melds and transcends the aesthetics and theories of many late twentieth century movements, including Pop Art and Minimalism, without ever taking a singular path.

As an octogenarian who still lives—somewhat famously—in a psychiatric institution in Tokyo and steadfastly paints in her immaculate studio every day, Kusama honed her punchy cosmic style in New York City in the 1960s. During this period, she staged avant-garde happenings, which eventually thrust her onto the international stage with a series of groundbreaking exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in the 1980s and the 45th Venice Biennale in 1993. She continues to churn out paintings and installations at inspiring speed, exhibiting internationally in nearly every corner of the globe, and maintains a commanding presence on the primary market and at auction.

View More Works

11

Yayoi Kusama

Infinity Nets OPQR

2007
acrylic on canvas
259.1 x 194 cm. (102 x 76 3/8 in.)

Estimate
£400,000 - 600,000 ‡

Sold for £458,500

Contact Specialist
Peter Sumner
Head of Contemporary Art, London
psumner@phillips.com
+44 207 318 4063

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

London Evening Sale 10 February 2014 7pm

1
Fredrik Værslev
Untitled (Frieze Garden Painting #02)
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 ♠
Sold for £48,750
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2
Lucien Smith
Feet in the Water
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ‡
Sold for £194,500
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3
Adam McEwen
Rite Aid
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ♠†
Sold for £170,500
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4
Urs Fischer
Nail Duo
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000
Sold for £230,500
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5
Dan Colen
It's Only Natural (The Replacement)
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000
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6
Nate Lowman
Untitled Marilyn #13
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡
Sold for £530,500
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7
Sterling Ruby
SP56
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡
Sold for £494,500
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8
Christopher Wool
Untitled
Estimate £800,000 - 1,200,000 ‡
Sold for £1,314,500
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9
Andreas Gursky
Ocean IV
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ♠
Sold for £338,500
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10
Rosemarie Trockel
Untitled
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡♠
Sold for £116,500
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11
Yayoi Kusama
Infinity Nets OPQR
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡
Sold for £458,500
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12
Urs Fischer
Cutting a Cake with a Hammer
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000
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13
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £350,000 - 450,000 ‡♠
Sold for £470,500
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14
Andy Warhol
One Multicolored Marilyn (Reversal Series)
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡
Sold for £1,082,500
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15
Gerhard Richter
Abstraktes Bild 776-1 (Abstract Painting)
Estimate £1,800,000 - 2,200,000 ‡♠
Sold for £1,930,500
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16
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (Butterfly)
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡
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17
Michaël Borremans
The Portrait
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ‡♠
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18
Donald Judd
Untitled
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000
Sold for £326,500
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19
Michelangelo Pistoletto
Uomo con gli stivali al telefono
Estimate £350,000 - 450,000 ♠
Sold for £614,500
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20
Andy Warhol
Miguel Berrocal
Estimate £300,000 - 400,000 ‡
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21
Komar and Melamid
Karl Marx and Cornucopia (Diptych)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
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22
Semyon Faibisovich
Winter Day, from the “Shuttle Bus” series
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡
Sold for £62,500
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23
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24
Chris Ofili
The Saga Continues...The Journey from Hell
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
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25
Banksy
Happy Shopper
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡♠
Sold for £506,500
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26
Banksy
Rembrandt
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 ♠
Sold for £398,500
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27
Jacob Kassay
Untitled
Estimate £70,000 - 100,000 ‡
Sold for £86,500
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28
This lot is no longer available.
29
Damien Hirst
Night Follows Day (Diptych)
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡♠
Sold for £578,500
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30
Ashley Bickerton
Bismarck Archipelago Shark
Estimate £30,000 - 50,000
Sold for £104,500
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31
Robert Longo
Spanish Blood
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £170,500
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32
Wolfgang Tillmans
Paper Drop (White) b
Estimate £25,000 - 35,000 ♠
Sold for £25,000
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33
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34
Oscar Murillo
Untitled
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ‡♠
Sold for £98,500
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35
Mark Flood
Pink Summer Day
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000
Sold for £80,500
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Contemporary Art Evening Sale

London Evening Sale 10 February 2014 7pm

Create your first list.

Provenance

Exhibited

Catalogue Essay

Artist Biography

Yayoi Kusama

11

Yayoi Kusama

Infinity Nets OPQR

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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