Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche stressed repeatedly that dharma art is “…the activity of nonaggression” (True Perception, p.2, etc.).  Kusama’s compositions of effervescent polka-dots in any color neither ask nor require anything of the viewer.  These sculptures and paintings are open and available for experience, as can be clearly seen by the smiling faces of gallery goers photographing themselves and each other posing with the art.  There is no message being conveyed by artist to audience, something that Trungpa Rinpoche suggested could be a form of aggression.  The art is simply a self-existing embodiment of exuberance and joy, as suggested in the title of the show.

Buddhist dharma describes five energetic qualities called the “Five Buddha-Families”.  Kusama’s art strikes me as aligning with the quality of Ratna energy, bringing a richness to the gallery space with qualities of solidity in their size and the literal heft of the large sculptures and fertility with the rendition of flowers, pumpkins, and the protozoan semblance of some of the paintings.  Ratna energy is also associated with the fall season and the dependable earth.  While the sculptures of flowers and pumpkins are the only obviously representational forms in the show, the unifying effect of dots, ranging in size from pinpricks to circles nearly a meter in diameter, and the contrasting colors render Kusama’s all-encompassing embrace across paintings, large sculptures and the fully enclosed Infinity Mirror Room.  Regardless of the physical shape of her art, the rich nonaggressive quality of the final products shine forth.

#dharmicart #davidzwirner  #kusama yayoi