For her project at the Mattress Factory, Kusama chose to create three new installations. Incorporating new media for the artist, her yellow and black polka-dotted room filled with huge, oddly shaped balloons, is an environment in which we seem to become smaller and loose our balance. Her two adjoining polka-dotted mirrored rooms, the largest she has ever undertaken, present infinite reflections and the contrast of cool black light and hot white light, reminiscent of the movement between hot and cool water in the traditional Japanese bath. Entering these three undulating, vibrating, seemingly endless spaces, one realizes that Kusama has indeed succeeded in bringing us into her world. Through her work, the artist powerfully evokes larger questions of individual identity, perception of reality, and the permeability of boundaries between the self and the outer world. Open a black, double door into a space with mirrored ceilings and walls. The white formica floor is covered with three sizes of colored fluorescent dots. The room is filled with black light. Reflected on ceiling and walls, you are an integral part of the space.
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