{"id":331377,"date":"2026-08-27T22:16:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T22:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/331377\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T22:16:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T22:16:28","slug":"where-to-see-yayoi-kusamas-art-in-nyc-outside-museums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/331377\/","title":{"rendered":"Where to see Yayoi Kusama\u2019s art in NYC outside museums"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese art icon whose hypnotic polka dots, whimsical pumpkins and dazzling \u201cInfinity Mirror Rooms\u201d made her a global sensation, died Aug. 14<\/a> at a Tokyo hospital. She was 97.<\/p>\n

But nearly 6,800 miles away, Kusama\u2019s work lives on in some unexpected corners of New York City \u2014 where seeing it doesn\u2019t require a museum ticket, an advance reservation or hours spent waiting in line.<\/p>\n

One of the most striking examples is hiding in plain sight beneath Midtown Manhattan.<\/p>\n

At Grand Central Madison, commuters pass every day by \u201cA Message of Love, Directly from My Heart unto the Universe,\u201d Kusama\u2019s sprawling glass mosaic commissioned<\/a> for the Long Island Rail Road terminal. <\/p>\n

Kusama passed away in mid-August \u2014 but the news was only released this week. Getty Images<\/p>\n

A general view of Yayoi Kusama\u2019s glass mosaic, \u201cA Message of Love, Directly from My Heart unto the Universe,\u201d at Grand Central Madison in Midtown, New York. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

Commuters walk past Yayoi Kusama\u2019s colorful glass mosaic on their way to the LIRR platforms. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

A closer look at the colorful details of Yayoi Kusama\u2019s glass mosaic, filled with whimsical faces, polka dots and fantastical forms. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

The permanent 2022 work sits along the Madison Concourse between East 46th and 47th streets, filling the passageway with bold colors, lines and fantastical forms. The work expands on Kusama\u2019s \u201cMy Eternal Soul\u201d series, which she began in 2009. <\/p>\n

The MTA says the mosaic conveys themes of love, the universe and peace central to Kusama\u2019s work \u2014 and that the artist hoped it would \u201cbring joy\u201d to people encountering it as they passed through the station.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, just hours after news of Kusama\u2019s death broke, The Post found commuters and visitors doing just that.<\/p>\n

Sandrine Gold, a 51-year-old teacher from Port Washington, stopped and began snapping photos \u2014 without realizing she was looking at the work of one of the world\u2019s most famous contemporary artists.<\/p>\n

Sandrine Gold, a teacher at the Long Island School for the Gifted, takes a photo of Yayoi Kusama\u2019s glass mosaic. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just walking by in the subway and noticed this amazing art on the wall,\u201d Gold told The Post. \u201cI love how rich and inspiring the colors are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gold, who teaches Spanish and French at the Long Island School for the Gifted and also leads an after-school art class, said the work immediately gave her ideas to take back to her students.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe colors were really catching my attention and started to inspire me for my classes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her chance encounter captures something unusual about Kusama\u2019s presence in New York: Some of her art can be stumbled upon entirely by accident.<\/p>\n

Dante Cerchiara, 2, and his mother, Jessica Cerchiara, of Franklin Square, N.Y., also enjoyed the late artist\u2019s mosaic while walking through the terminal. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a sharp contrast with the frenzy surrounding Kusama\u2019s blockbuster exhibitions.<\/p>\n

Kusama\u2019s \u201cInfinity Mirror Rooms\u201d became an international sensation, drawing huge crowds for the chance to step inside her mirrored, seemingly endless spaces. <\/p>\n

Her 2013 David Zwirner exhibition in Chelsea featured \u201cThe Souls of Millions of Light Years Away,\u201d one of the installations that helped propel her to an even wider popular audience.<\/p>\n

Kusama was known internationally for her mirrored rooms exhibits, which made appearances in cities including New York and Los Angeles. REUTERS<\/p>\n

But Kusama\u2019s footprint in New York has extended beyond galleries and museums \u2014 and beyond Grand Central.<\/p>\n

For years, one of her signature pumpkins also greeted residents at SKY, the massive 1,175-unit rental tower at 605 W. 42nd St.<\/p>\n

The custom bronze \u201cPumpkin,\u201d installed in 2016, sat in the building\u2019s cobblestoned motor court, bringing Kusama\u2019s unmistakable polka dots to the base of the glass-and-steel tower. The more than 2,600-pound sculpture is no longer at the property.<\/p>\n

Kusama\u2019s connection to New York stretches back nearly seven decades.<\/p>\n

Born in Matsumoto, Japan, in 1929, she moved to New York in 1958 and became part of the city\u2019s avant-garde art scene, developing her \u201cInfinity Net\u201d paintings while experimenting with sculpture, performance and installations. She returned to Japan in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

Decades later, her work would return to New York on a vastly different scale \u2014 filling galleries with crowds and commanding millions of dollars in the international art market.<\/p>\n

But for New Yorkers like Gold, Kusama\u2019s legacy can still appear much more unexpectedly \u2014 simply on the way to catch a train.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese art icon whose hypnotic polka dots, whimsical pumpkins and dazzling \u201cInfinity Mirror Rooms\u201d made…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1149,1965,3955,1606,3003,9,24,55,54,56,1491],"class_list":["post-331377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-art","tag-grand-central-station","tag-grand-central-terminal","tag-lirr","tag-midtown-west","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-real-estate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}