23.5 х 18.8 in. cm.
Signed, numbered and dated by the artist front lower margins.
"Fireflies" (1999) is one of Japanese female artist Yayoi Kusama's most sought after and desirable silkscreen prints, and this is only the fourth time any edition of this print has ever come to international auction. This print is edition 59/100, measures 23.5 x 18.8 in. (59.7 x 47.7 cm), is custom framed with UV glass to larger dimensions, and is in pristine condition.
Yayoi Kusama is best known for her works featuring repeating motifs and psychedelic imagery that evoke themes of psychology, feminism, obsession, sex, creation, destruction, and intense self-reflection. Here dark green and black infinity nets swim through space, with bright red polka dots representing fireflies glow against the lush background. Although her œuvre is incredibly varied, Kusama's best works possess, as Kusama herself states, patterns "without beginning, end, or center... This endless repetition caused a kind of dizzy, empty, hypnotic feeling."
Kusama was born in Matsumoto City, Japan and began painting at the age of ten, as a means of escaping a childhood of neglect and expressing her early experiences with hallucinogenic visions. For her oeuvre, Kusama has received numerous awards and honors, including the 1996 International Art Critic Association Prize, the 2000 Education Minister’s Art Encouragement Prize & Foreign Minister’s Commendations, and the 2003 Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Her work has been widely exhibited in major museums and galleries throughout the world, and has recently been the subject of solo shows at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (2012); Opera Gallery, Hong Kong, China (2012); Tate Modern, London, England (2012); the National Museum of Art Osaka, Osaka, Japan (2012); Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2011); Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia (2011); and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain (2011). Selected Public Collections:Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea