The show at Wrightwood, \u201cInner Worlds: Visions from the Hirshhorn Collection<\/a>,\u201d opens Friday and runs through Dec. 19. It is currently the only place in Chicago to experience Kusama\u2019s mirrored rooms. Local audiences may be familiar with Kusama\u2019s work from Chicago\u2019s WNDR Museum, which, before it closed for good this month, featured the infinity room titled \u201cLOVE IS CALLING<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n While Kusama developed the Infinity Mirror Rooms for decades \u2014 in fact, the show at Wrightwood features her first from 1965 \u2014 they had a resurgence in widespread popularity beginning in 2017, when the exhibit, \u201cYayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors,\u201d toured the country. The show drew record attendance levels<\/a> at several museums and generated tremendous internet buzz, with visitors posting their mirrored art selfies to Instagram.<\/p>\n The moment helped to solidify Kusama\u2019s place not only in art history, but also in pop culture. It led to her personal appearance \u2014 a blunt red bob and colorful dresses with geometric patterns \u2014 becoming as instantly recognizable as the polka dots and pumpkins often featured in her work.<\/p>\n But those bright colored motifs were pulled from Kusama\u2019s own internal struggles. Throughout her life, the avant-garde artist talked openly about experiencing hallucinations, which began when she was a young child and led her to art. She also lived voluntarily at a psychiatric facility in Tokyo from the 1970s until her death.<\/p>\n That 2017 exhibit was organized by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Smithsonian\u2019s modern and contemporary art museum, which also curated the show at Wrightwood.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yayoi Kusama\u2019s \u201cPumpkin\u201d is one of three of the artists iconic works presented in the exhibit.<\/p>\n Jim Urquhart\/For the Sun-Times<\/p>\n In the new show, three of Kusama\u2019s iconic works \u2014 two mirrored rooms and one large pumpkin sculpture \u2014 are presented alongside two of her art peers, Mary Bauermeister and Niki de Saint Phalle. Each of the women was a trailblazing 20th-century artist who forged careers at a time when the art world was still overwhelmingly male-dominated.<\/p>\n Plus, each of the women explored their own inner worlds and thought about how to immerse audiences in their work, including Bauermeister\u2019s optical boxes, two of which are featured in the show and require a viewer to peer through a lens to catch sight of the drawing beneath.<\/p>\n Shown together, it allows audiences to understand Kusama\u2019s work in the context of what else was happening in the art world throughout the 1950s and \u201960s, a period in which all three of the women lived in New York. And already the Chicago show is attracting attention; Wrightwood staff say it is the most preregistrations they have ever had for an exhibition.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople know Kusama really well, but we said it would be really great to spread out and look at who else was doing this,\u201d said curator Betsy Johnson, who works at the Hirshhorn. \u201cWho have [people] maybe not heard of yet? Who can we put in Kusama\u2019s company? And it very quickly came to the fore that Niki de Saint-Phalle and Mary Bauermeister were just such a good fit.\u201d<\/p>\n While Kusama reached certified superstar status in her later years of life, she was not without controversy. After her death in August, racist anti-Black comments<\/a> she wrote in her autobiography resurfaced. Vice\u2019s Dexter Thomas pointed out in 2017<\/a> that that section was removed from the English-language translation of the text. Thomas, who is Black, also reported on being banned from Kusama\u2019s studio.<\/p>\n Kusama issued an apology in 2023, saying in a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle<\/a>, \u201cI deeply regret using hurtful and offensive language in my book. My message has always been one of love, hope, compassion, and respect for all people. My lifelong intention has been to lift up humanity through my art. I apologize for the pain I have caused.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson, who pointed both to Kusama\u2019s ongoing mental illness and upbringing in a homogeneous culture, said the new Wrightwood exhibit does not directly address Kusama\u2019s past comments.<\/p>\n \u201cWe definitely come upon these very unique individuals who may have mental illness, as Kusama did, and so their interactions with society are maybe not always along the same lines as one would hope,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI think, in addition to her mental illness, there were probably also cultural conditions that were probably more challenging for her, but I do know that she did apologize, later in life, for making racist comments.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wrightwood 659 assistant curator Ashley Janke is reflected in a mirror in one of two mirror rooms by Yayoi Kusama at Wrightwood 659 in Lincoln Park. <\/p>\n Jim Urquhart\/For the Sun-Times<\/p>\n The show at Wrightwood is the third collaboration between the Chicago museum and the Hirshhorn; previous shows included a 2018 display of Ai Weiwei\u2019s \u201cTRACE<\/a>\u201d and a 2022 show called \u201cRirkrit Tiravanija: (who\u2019s afraid of red, yellow, and green)<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The museum, which is privately owned by prominent philanthropist and Democratic megadonor Fred Eychaner, sits along a residential block<\/a>, in a building that was reimagined by the renowned architect Tadao Ando. The museum has been looking to expand its footprint recently, but faces a court challenge <\/a>in doing so.<\/p>\n Still, due to its ownership model, the museum has been able to take bolder swings<\/a> at a time when many museums are facing pressures, like the Smithsonian, which has been scrutinized by the Trump administration. Earlier this month, Lonnie Bunch III announced he will step down as the head of the Smithsonian<\/a>. Amid his tenure, he tried to maintain the museum\u2019s independence amid an internal review of the Smithsonian initiated by the administration \u201cto assess tone, historical framing, and alignment with American ideals<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson said working with Wrightwood is a welcome chance to show off pieces of the Hirshhorn\u2019s collection and bring the work to a Midwestern audience.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wrightwood 659 assistant curator Ashley Janke talks about the art of Mary Bauermeister, who is also featured in \u201cInner Worlds: Visions from the Hirshhorn Collection\u201d at Wrightwood 659.<\/p>\n Jim Urquhart\/For the Sun-Times<\/p>\n![\"Yayoi](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/71aaebb\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/7010x4833+0+0\/resize\/840x579!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F5b%2Ff1%2F7c1ed8ee4e95a16d5fe8c144f025%2Fkusamamirrors-260930-03ju.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Assistant](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/837472b\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/7012x5257+0+0\/resize\/840x630!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F9f%2Fc6%2Fcd982d3d459aac03e567c141207c%2Fkusamamirrors-260930-10ju.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Assistant](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/219eded\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5957x4434+0+0\/resize\/840x625!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F42%2Fc3%2F63ad2b7246b395dd30ca286aad19%2Fkusamamirrors-260930-02ju.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"Assistant](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/83d3884\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/7885x5464+0+0\/resize\/840x582!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F75%2F07%2Ff40682524162929c3e4d6350161a%2Fkusamamirrors-260930-01ju.jpg\")
<\/p>\n