Yayoi Kusama’s most notable work to date has come and gone in Toronto. Her world renown Infinity Mirrors finally made its way up north this past spring and I was lucky enough to see what all the hype was about. Truth be told, I wasn’t able to snag tickets initially when they’d been on presale. As a last resort, my boyfriend and I had to camp out a few hours beforehand on the rush line – twice. When we finally did get in, I was so excited to have gotten entry to the most talked about exhibit of the year (no exaggeration). So was it worth the wait?

This was probably my favourite out of the five rooms we entered. The Infinity Mirrored room epitomized the theme of this exhibit with the repetition of the twinkling light fixtures giving you the feeling of forever. The rooms itself were actually quite tiny and with only twenty to thirty seconds each room, you either get a choice to “feel infinity” or to take one for the gram. The lights would also go out for a moment in this room and then come back on as part of the experience. I would’ve liked it more if the lights had stayed on the entire time seeing as how limited our time was. However, Kusama’s exploration of time and space were the main focus of this installation and it definitely came through in her work.

Kusama’s signature polka dots were at the forefront of the Infinity Mirrors installation. Pictured in the first photo and in this one, you can see her love for dots coming into play. The Dots Obsession room, which was similar to the giant polka-dotted pink balls pictured above, was very pop-like and somewhat surreal but at the very core, minimalistic. Kusama succeeded in bringing so many different themes together that blur the lines between abstraction and forms derived from life. I really enjoyed my time in this room because of my personal love for polka dots. I only wished we could’ve had multiple entries in each room but unfortunately, we were only allowed a one-time entry per room.

The Souls of Millions Light Years Away (pictured above) is probably Kusama’s most recognized installation piece throughout social media. This room is also what made me want to see the Infinity Mirrors exhibit so badly in the first place. Her simple usage of lights and mirrors create a universe where objects and space take on another meaning. If only for twenty seconds, the reflective walls of the tiny room are transformed into an entirely different universe and I could see my reflection spread into infinity. Now, I feel like this would’ve been amazing if I could’ve gone into each room by myself. However, because of the large number of people at this exhibit, I knew that wasn’t happening.

At the end of the exhibit, you have an infinite amount of time to spend in the Obliteration Room. You are given two polka-dotted stickers each, where you can mount wherever you like in the room. Each dotted sticker that you see above was added by every exhibition guest since beginning in March. As you can see, I was one of the latecomers as most of the blank space has already been filled up. Even though the exhibit only allowed twenty seconds in a room, it took me and my boyfriend around two and a half hours to finish the entire exhibit. There was around a fifteen-minute wait in between each room with many of Kusama’s other whimsical art pieces displayed throughout the two-floor exhibition space.

All in all, I would say Kusama’s Infinity Mirrors is definitely worth the wait. I remember hearing people say how hectic it was to be rushed out of each room and then having to wait in line again to gain entry into the next one. I did feel it was very rushed and would’ve liked more time to take my pictures but the wait in between the rooms was short with lines moving quickly (one benefit to rushing people out after twenty seconds). There was also one other notable room, “All the Eternal Love I have for the Pumpkins”, which was not allowed to be photographed. In it, you find yourself in a field of lit up polka-dotted pumpkins. It was so completely pop-like and absurd – I loved it.

The exhibit might be over in Toronto but it’s still touring in North America and of course, there’s always Kusama’s museum in Tokyo. If you do get a chance, I would recommend you check it out for all you eccentric abstraction lovers out there.

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Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors

Art Gallery of Ontario
317 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON M5T 1G4

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