草間彌生美術館Yayoi Kusama Museum
© YAYOI KUSAMA
In Shinjuku, Tokyo, a rather extraordinary building has appeared. Located not a great distance from Waseda and Ushigome Yanagicho stations, on a street full of the rather typical buildings you can see in any part of this great city, stands one building which shouts out that it is something more than typical. Where most buildings look quite ‘busy’ with various windows, balconies and other exterior cladding, this building presents sheer white walls and large continuous windows. Its simplicity is understated, yet all the more interesting for being so. In an area famous for its hustle and bustle this one building presents an exterior which represents the opposite. When you discover this building then you have indeed found the Yayoi Kusama Museum東京の新宿に、一見変わった建物が現れた。早稲田駅と牛込柳町駅にほど近い日本的な建物が密集するこの地域に、真っ白な壁と大きな窓というシンプルな作りの建物は却って人の目を引き、興味をそそられる。これが2017年10月にオープンした草間彌生美術館だ。
1929年長野県松本市生まれの前衛芸術家である彼女のアートは、幼少期の幻視・幻聴体験をもとにした網目模様や水玉が主なモチーフとなっている。第二次世界大戦後、京都市立美術工芸学校で日本画を学び、その後1957年に渡米。60代の頃には前衛芸術家としての地位を築き、1973年までニューヨークを拠点に活動していた。その後拠点を新宿に移し、今でも精力的に活動している。2014年には世界で最も人気のアーティストに選出され、2016年には文化勲章を受章した。
通常の美術館は、四角い部屋があり、止まりながら壁から壁へ移動するような感覚だが、草間彌生美術館は曲線を多用することによって、ごく自然に私たちを前へ前へ進むよう促してくれる。壁がカーブしているところでは、まるで自分もアート作品の一部になって一緒にカーブしているようだ。今回の展示会では壁一面に作品が展示されていたが、これからの展示会でもこの壁の作りを活かして作品を展示するのだろう。
美術館館長、建畠 晢はこう話す。『長年にわたって国際的な注目を浴び続けてきたアーティストは、目下、第二の黄金期ともいうべき旺盛な制作に邁進しています。美術館には完成したばかりの作品を展示し、今日の彼女の鮮烈な絵筆の息吹を目の当たりにしていただくコーナーも設けられています。』
草間彌生の第二の黄金期を象徴する場所として、東京以上にふさわしい場所はないだろう。
草間彌生美術館
住所：東京都新宿区弁天町107
営業時間：11:00～17:00（入場は16:00まで）*１日４回の入れ替え制
開館日：木・金・土・日曜日および国民の祝日
チケットは公式ウェブサイトにて事前購入制（２ヶ月前の1日に発売）
TEL：03-5273-1778
http://yayoikusamamuseum.jp
Text: Mike Sullivan
Translation: Chinami OdaBorn in 1929 in Matsumoto City, Nagano, an early example of her artistic inclinations was a picture of a lady in a kimono which was covered in spots. Also around that time she described vivid hallucinations, such as patterns that came to life in front of her very eyes. After World War Two she studied Nihonga painting at the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts, before moving to the US in 1957. By the early 60s she was an established avant-garde artist, she worked most of the time in New York City until 1973. Since then she has lived in Shinjuku where she has continued to work on her art. She was named as one of the world’s most popular artists in 2014 and received Japan’s Order of Culture in 2016.
Entering the museum, each floor incorporates a natural flow of movement which encourages going forward. Most galleries have square white rooms, one enters and then stays stationary within it, sometimes moving from one wall to the next, but in this gallery the walls curve round and you find yourself almost ‘curving’ with it too. For this first exhibition the walls feel like they have been covered in art in an explosion of artistic creativity, and no doubt this is representative of what future exhibitions be displayed like as well.
It is worth the wait to gain entry, as the museum’s director Akira Tatehata explains: Over many years the artist has received international acclaim and attention and now, as she strives to create vigorously, it could be said that it is Kusama’s second golden age. The museum has set aside a space to present her brand-new works so that visitors can witness the breadth of her vivid brush strokes.
Set in an amazing building in one of the greatest cities of the world, there is no better location for Yayoi Kusama’s second golden age of artistry.
Yayoi Kusama Museum
Address: 107 Benten-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Opening Hours: 11:00 – 17:00 (last admission 16:00) *Four times a day admission system
Tickets have to be purchased in advance via the official website (from the first day of each month for entry in the month after next).
Tel: +81(3) 5273 1778
http://yayoikusamamuseum.jp
Text: Mike Sullivan
