San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Polka dot madness has hit the SFMOMA, which is currently exhibiting ”Infinite Love,” by Yayoi Kusama (2024). This show is short and very sweet. You get two minutes in each of two colorful, mirrored cubes. The first room is titled “Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love” (2023). The second room is titled “Love is Calling” (2013), and it is accompanied by the artist reciting a love poem that I hate to admit I don’t recall hearing! I think my senses were overwhelmed and didn’t even let that part in.

elevator to Yayoi Kusama "Infinite Love" show at SFMOMA

the poem:

Enter the place of colors

Polka dots let in the sunlight of the earth

The heart Is filled with the shining light of the sun

All of the people who enter seeking the joy of being alive

Let there be eternal harmony among all in the circles and cycles of living

Peace and endless love for all

— Yayoi Kusama, 2023

Reminiscent of psychedelic blob shows, these art installations are vibrant but still. Approximately six viewers at a time step into each white cube and are enveloped in dazzlingly colored shapes repeated endlessly via mirrored walls. Though I enjoyed just being within the colorful spaces, and took plenty of photos, the idea is to convey a feeling of “unlimited potential and possibility.” I left mostly satisfied and happy. “Infinite Love” runs through September 7, 2024. Tickets to the show include admission to the museum if you purchase in advance. Check the website for clarification.

“Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love” at Yayoi Kusama "Infinite Love" show
at SFMOMA

“Love is Calling” at Yayoi Kusama "Infinite Love" show at SFMOMA

Elsewhere in the museum, Kusama’s giant polka-dotted pumpkin exhibit--“Aspiring to Pumpkin’s Love, the Love in My Heart”--is also worth seeing. Depending on the light and where you stand, this piece is yellow or orange and a group of three, four, or five pumpkins.

“Aspiring to Pumpkin’s Love, the Love in My Heart” at Yayoi Kusama "Infinite Love" show
at SFMOMA

Another show you won't want to miss is “The Visitors,” by Ragnar Kjartansson (2012). Commissioned by the Migros Museum in Zurich, this piece is an homage to the Swedish pop band ABBA and was titled by the director after their final album. It takes place in a rambling old mansion on Rokeby Farm in upstate New York’s Hudson Valley, where the director and some musician friends from Reykjavik, Iceland, spent a week eating and drinking and finally, on the last day, filming. On 9 screens, the piece depicts eight rooms, each inhabited by a musician, and shows simultaneously what is happening in each room as it adds to the whole, melancholic piece. It is interesting to know that the person in the bathtub playing a guitar is the director. The piece runs an hour long, and I think it is worth staying for the entire show.

This is the piece’s second installation at the SFMOMA. I saw it during its first run here and loved it. I’m so pleased to have had the chance to view it again, because I enjoyed it even more this second time.