PROVENANCE:
Private collection, Asia
This sculpture is to be sold with a registration card issued by Yayoi Kusama Studio.

Leaving the canvas and taking three-dimensional form, Pumpkin brings Yayoi Kusama’s visually stimulating compositions to tangible reality. Carefully sculpted in the asymmetrical imperfection of true life, Pumpkin commands attention and consideration despite its static and deceptively simple nature. Arranged in trooping lines of various size along the swells and valleys of the globular gourd, Kusama’s iconic black dots emphasize the dimensional texture of the sculpture, adding further depth and elevating the form beyond conventional aspect. The spherical nature of the pumpkin’s structure echoes the meticulous stripes of dots, establishing the sculpture as a conceptual emblem of the dot itself. “A polka dot has the form of the sun,” states Kusama, “which is a symbol of the energy of the whole world and our living life, and also the form of the moon, which is calm.” In Pumpkin, Kusama has captured this sensational essence of the polka dot, reflected in the structure, composition, and pattern of the simple pumpkin, creating a vibrant, living form which exceeds the boundaries of its stationary nature. With only three other Pumpkin sculptures comparable in size having ever been offered on the auction market, the current lot stands as a superb and uniquely large example of one of Kusama’s most iconic themes.