It is impossible to ignore: the glossy metal legs contort in the air like the tentacles of a giant black and yellow polka-dotted octopus dancing inside the grey halls of the National Gallery of Victoria. To the untrained eye, the five-metre bronze sculpture may look like a life form from another galaxy but for those familiar with Japanese-born provocateur Yayoi Kusama, the structure is far from extraterrestrial. The monumental Dancing Pumpkin sculpture by Yayoi Kusama at the NGV.
Credit: Luis Ascui The artwork represents a constant subject of the 95-year-old’s creative work, the humble pumpkin, and forms the centrepiece of the gallery’s summer blockbuster – a retrospective exhibition of Kusama’s trailblazing career. The sculpture, titled Dancing Pumpkin, will be among nearly 200 works by Kusama on display at NGV International from mid-December, the largest exhibition of her artistic work ever put on show in Australia. The exhibition, a labour of love five years in the making, will feature works by Kusama spanning eight decades, from drawings she did as a child to fully immersive mirror rooms purposely designed for the gallery.
NGV senior curator of Asian art Wayne Crothers said the gallery had to reinforce the floor and strategically position Dancing Pumpkin above underground columns in order to put it on display inside Federation Court, which sits above a subterranean carpark. “There’s only three parts that touch the ground, and another eight tentacles that are a.
