Janie started to obsess about Yayoi Kusama before we went to Japan, as Janie had heard about Kusama’s new gallery in Tokyo and how impossible it was to get in there. We tried. We failed.
We even discussed Kusama with some art loving Brits, “Mr & Mrs Tinker”, while travelling between Tsumagao and Takyama and tried, without success, to book from a Japanese railway platform this Victoria Miro exhibition for our return to London. It was sold out. Failed again.
But then our Yayoi Kusama luck changed. We found an excellent exhibition of her work in Kyoto which we could get in to see – click here or below for the story of that day – we saw the Kusama late that day.
Then, a couple of weeks after our return from Japan, Janie learnt through a client that the Victoria Miro Yayoi Kusama exhibition had been extended and that a few of those extra timed slots might still be available. Janie called me excitedly and we managed, at pretty high speed, to find a suitable slot in our diaries, thus grabbing one of those few remaining Victoria Miro slots.
Janie got to the flat well early that afternoon so we decided to stop off at the British Library along the way – Janie had never seen the place. We had a quick look around the Sir John Ritblat rooms – Treasures Of The British Library, taking in some beautiful old books from around the world, plus the Magna Carta.
Then we took some refreshment at the library before heading off for our early evening Yayoi Kusama appointment at Wharf Road.
A pretty strict appointment it is too. While the team at Victoria Miro are pretty relaxed about people wandering around the open exhibition rooms and the garden, the small infinity room exhibit is done on a timed entry with each pair given precisely one minute to walk around the room and look/take pictures.
Actually the whole show is one of those experiences for which the maxim “a picture can tell a thousand words” applies, so I’m going to stop writing and instead show a dozen or so of the pictures we took – the first two being from that infinity room:
Two other aspects of this exhibition really delighted both of us, especially Janie. Firstly, the limited edition book, the purchase of which was effectively the deal through which we got our exhibition tickets. The book has wonderful pictures of all the exhibits – Janie expects to enjoy dipping into that book from her metaphorical coffee table for some time to come.
Secondly, we managed to procure the very last copy Victoria Miro had of the DVD Yayoi Kusama: Infinity – thanks to helpful Ayley at Wharf Road for holding that back for us. As it happens, at the time of writing that DVD is widely available – only a few clicks away. Still, we have our copy in hand and are looking forward to watching it over the seasonal break ahead. It looks like a fascinating documentary about Kusama’s life and work.
In short, we had a very enjoyable experience – we felt fortunate and privileged to have seen this show. We celebrated back at the flat, suitably enough, with a Japanese meal from the new Eat Tokyo place that has just opened up on Notting Hill Gate.
If the above dozen photos isn’t enough for you, you can see all 89 photos we took at the exhibition on the following Flickr album:
