Until Sept. 26, the Glass House will look a little less one-with-nature and a little more spotty. Artist Yayoi Kusama, who has exhibited two other installations at the New Canaan, Conn., site this year, has covered the exterior walls of Philip Johnson’s 1949 Glass House with her signature polka dots in an installation called Dots Obsession – Alive, Seeking for Eternal Hope.
“The ‘Pepsi Red’ polka dots will at first brightly contrast the lush late summer green landscape of the Glass House, then complement the emerging autumn colors of New England,” says curator and collections manager Irene Shum Allen in an email. Allen explains that the collaboration with Kusama began with the idea to use Narcissus Garden as a way to highlight the restoration work on the pond.
Matthew Placek
Matthew Placek
“It is just playful, fun, and effervescent, yet it is sophisticated in its manipulation of the inherent architectural qualities of the Glass House,” Allen says. “It plays on the reflectivity of the glass house, shade, shadow, and natural light.”
Followers of Kusama’s work will recognize the polka dot theme from past projects. Next year, a touring exhibition of her work kicks off at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.
All the scheduled tours for the duration of Kusama’s Dots Obsession installation are sold out, but private tours can be arranged through the museum.
Matthew Placek
Matthew Placek
“Dots Obsession – Alive, Seeking for Eternal Hope” is on display at the Glass House through Sept. 26, 2016.
