Infinity Mirrors

I'm in LA to see the hottest art show of the year, Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrors at the Broad. The room above is called The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away.

All advance tickets for the run were gone within 90 minutes.

Dots Obsession: Love Transformed Into Dots

The exhibit consists of 6 small mirrored rooms with a few paintings and sculptures in the corridors between them. 

Your group of two to four gets 30 seconds in each. (No pressure.)

They are small but infinite. The ultimate selfie venue. Space really does seem to expand, momentarily. And then your time is up.

Kusama lived in New York in the 60s, and you can find evidence of her fondness for polka dots and obsessiveness 50 years ago. She called these cloth works accumulations.

Peering into a cube for a Vegas-like neon show. You can see your friends too.

This room, Aftermath of the Obliteration of Eternity, reminded us of fireflies. The lights dim and then come up. And then the door opens and it's time to go.

Fortunately, just as you leave the last room (All The Eternal Love I Have in The World for Pumpkins, where no photography is allowed because in DC someone broke one! so this is not my picture),

…the museum drops you into a gallery full of Yayoi's paintings.

Her recent art feels influenced by aboriginal dot paintings with a dose of Marimekko.

Some are protozoan. Others more abstract or psychological.

The colors are especially joyful.

Exit through the dot sticker room, where you can touch the furniture and take pictures of people

taking pictures of people.

Fritzi contemplates the tricycle.

Cousin Laurel gives Yayoi a thumbs up.

(You can still see the show in Atlanta, Cleveland, and Toronto next year. If you get the chance, it's worth the trip. The first infinity room is a permanent part of the Broad collection.)

***
On the way, we three native New Yorkers made a pastrami pilgrimage. I know it's heresy, but Langer's puts Katz's pastrami on rye to shame. Better service and prices too.

I'll leave you with this vibrant mural adorning the Museum of Contemporary Art, across from the Broad. Downtown LA is in the midst of another phase of reinvention, the ultimate California cycle. I love LA.

Videos from the Broad's website: