Leading British contemporary art gallery, The Victoria Miro Gallery and its owner, Victoria Miro, have proudly announced the publication of a book on the artistic works of the highly acclaimed Japanese artist and writer, Yayoi Kusama.

Released in July 2016 to mark the occasion of Kusama's eleventh exhibition, the book, entitled 'Yayoi Kusama' contains 97 colour illustrations, commissioned photography by Thierry Bal, commentary by Martin Coomer, and a series of short reflections on philosophies of life and art by the artist herself.

The works in the exhibition were especially conceived for the Victoria Miro Gallery's three locations, reflecting the relationships between the architecture of each establishment, and its canalside gardens.  

Kusama has always balanced abstract expressionism with minimalism, and the works on exhibition and showcased in the book demonstrate the themes that are a constant in Kusuma's art: infinity, patterns, repetition and imitations of mortality.

Works demonstrate Kusama's childhood memories and artistic obsessions

Kusama first showcased 'Infinity Nets' - a painting comprising repetitive and looping brushmarks that give the impression of an endless lattice - in New York in the late 1950's.  Decades later, Kusama continues to produce art that resembles forms of endless meshes that appear to undulate and fluctuate and dissolve into infinity.

The book and exhibition feature paintings, iconic pumpkin sculptures and mirror room installations. 

Paintings from the 'My Eternal Soul' series fully showcase Kusama's obsession with repetitive patterns, and include eyes, profiles and reflections of cell structures, often with vibrant colour combinations. 

'Where The Lights In My Heart Go' is the first outdoor mirror room conceived by Kusama - a stainless steel room punctured with small holes, allowing for variations in natural light to create ever-changing constellations, inspired by the gallery's canalside garden.  

'Narcissus Garden', originally created in 1966 comprises mirrored spheres in a manner the artist describes as a 'kinetic carpet'.  When originally installed at the Venice Biennale, they were sold under a sign that read 'Your Narcissism for Sale', which remains alluring in our current 'selfie' culture.

'All The Eternal Love I Have For The Pumpkins' is a mirror pumpkin room, comprising a field of pumpkin lanterns arranged in Kusama's signature rhythmic patterns of black and yellow spots.

'All The Eternal Love I Have For The Pumpkins' by Yayoi Kusama

Pumpkins have been a central motif of Kusama's art since the 1940's, inspired by her upbringing in an upper-middle-class family of seedling merchants, making her very familiar with the Kabocha Squash in the fields surrounding her childhood home.  Kusama's artistic style was also influenced by the visual and auditory hallucinations of repetitive patterns that she experienced in her early years.

The publication also marks the occasion of Kusama being selected as one of TIME Magazine's World's 100 Most Influential People.

Yayoi Kusama

216 pages, 97 illustrations in colour

Design by Martin Lovelock, Texts by Martin Coomer, Installation photography by Thierry Bal

Published by Victoria Miro

Release date: 1 July 2016

£55 / 70 Euros