Nets, 1997

Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese contemporary artist whose career spans more than seven decades and encompasses painting, sculpture, installation, and performance. Born in 1929 in Matsumoto, Japan, Kusama is best known for her repetitive patterns, immersive environments, and exploration of infinity, obsession, and self-obliteration. Her work is deeply informed by personal experiences with hallucinations and anxiety, which she has described as both distressing and creatively generative. Since the late 1950s, Kusama has developed a distinctive visual language grounded in repetition and accumulation, positioning her as a key figure in postwar avant-garde art and influencing movements such as Minimalism and Pop Art.

The Infinity Net painting from 1997 is a striking example of Kusama’s mastery of color and repetition, featuring a bold black net pattern set against a vibrant yellow ground—the same high-contrast palette found in her iconic pumpkin paintings. Executed in acrylic on canvas and measuring 15 × 17⅞ inches (38 × 45.5 cm.), the work demonstrates her meticulous, meditative process, in which countless small gestures accumulate into an all-over composition that suggests endless extension beyond the canvas. Signed, titled, and dated on the reverse, and accompanied by Yayoi Kusama’s artwork registration card, the painting reinforces its authenticity while highlighting Kusama’s continued exploration of infinity, psychological space, and visual obsession through disciplined repetition.