E xecuted in 2000, Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama is the rare original painting of a sought-after series of prints that was released that same year. Arguably one of the most important living female artists working today, revolutionising Abstraction, Expressionism, Emotionalism, Pop Art and Minimalism in the creation of a highly unique visual language, Yayoi Kusama’s phenomenal oeuvre transgresses paradigms in all fields and media. The present work not only combines Kusama’s signature motifs by marrying her eminent pumpkin iconography with her conceptual motifs of infinite repetition, but further introduces a rare motif and a distinctive framing device within the artist’s oeuvre- a jagged border executed in a dazzling red that electrifies the painting and draws the viewer’s eye into the heart of the composition. A playful, charming rumination of the artist’s most beloved pumpkins, the present work is irrevocably intertwined with Kusama’s psyche, and presents a splendid image of the artist’s unique artistic expression through which she achieves self-obliteration through repetition.

Pumpkin dances with a myriad of dots and lines, a resplendent, flawlessly executed archetype from Yayoi Kusama’s oeuvre. In the background, Kusama’s all-over scaled tessellations – an iconic iteration of the artist’s most distinctive infinity net motif employed often within her pumpkin paintings – are so tightly and dexterously woven that the surface hums with the rhythmic intensity of the pattern. The pumpkin itself, anthropomorphic and brilliantly luminous, presents the legendary artist at the height of her powers: each gleaming circle shimmers and vibrates; each meticulously crafted row of multi-striated dots throbs and slithers fluidly down the body of the gourd.

Kusama’s work is directly informed by the hallucinations she has experienced since childhood. As she recalls, “One day, looking at a red flower-patterned table cloth on the table, I turned my eyes to the ceiling and saw the same red flower pattern everywhere, even on the window glass and posts. The room, my body, the entire universe was filled with it, my self was eliminated, and I had returned and been reduced to the infinity of eternal time and the absolute of space.” (the artist cited in Yayoi Kusama, New York 2000, p. 36). Diagnosed with an obsessive-compulsive disorder, Kusama’s intensive artistic practice became her most effective form of self-therapy to decimate her fears and flee from her psychic obsession. In Kusama’s words, “by obliterating one’s individual self, one returns to the infinite universe” (the artist cited in "Yayoi Kusama," Bomb, v. 66, Winter 1999, online). By transcribing her hallucinatory visions in the form of paintings and sculptures, Kusama manages to connect to the universal and achieve personal peace, making every laborious brushstroke her therapeutic outlet.

The visual mania of Pumpkin spurs viewers to lose themselves in the vastness of Kusama’s singular universe, despite the work’s small-scale. Covered in meticulously crafted rows of multi-striated dots, the iconic pumpkin at the heart of this painting is almost anthropomorphic in form and brilliantly playful in its essence. Embodying an iconic, charismatic and highly personal motif, Kusama’s anthropomorphic pumpkins remain one of Kusama’s central recurring tropes. Kusama once said:

The initial manifestation of the motif itself can be traced back to the artist’s Nihonga practice at the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts in the late 1940s. The pumpkin is deeply central to the artist’s core psyche, stemming from a vivid hallucination from her childhood .According to the artist, “the first time I ever saw a pumpkin was when I was in elementary school and went with my grandfather to visit a big seed-harvesting ground…and there it was: a pumpkin the size of a man’s head… It immediately began speaking to me in a most animated manner” (the artist quoted in “Infinity Net”, Yayoi Kusama, London, UK, 2011, p. 75). Kusama’s pumpkins are universally emblematic of her oeuvre, serving as a representation of stability and comfort in the artist’s tumultuous life. Not only the exquisite amalgamation of Kusama’s signature motifs that are now central to her repertoire, Pumpkin meticulously represents the artist’s unique visual language and the deft precision of her painterly practice.

草 間彌生的《南瓜》繪於2000年，她在同一年推出的系列版畫正是以此珍罕原畫印製，備受市場追捧。草間顛覆了抽象藝術、表現主義、情感主義、波普藝術、極簡主義等多個流派的既有框架，創造出極其獨特的藝術語彙，堪稱當今最重要的在世女性藝術家，她的作品往往驚世駭俗，超越所有領域和媒介的範式。本作不僅融合草間的南瓜標誌和無盡重複的創作理念，更用上其作品中罕見的邊框——鮮紅色的鋸齒邊框激發活力，頓時將觀眾目光吸引到畫面中心。畫作交織著藝術家的內在心境，描繪她以珍愛的南瓜創造出玩味十足的形象，並透過重複的筆觸而消融自我，造就出精彩懾人的畫面。

無數圓點和線條在《南瓜》隨興起舞，完美排列成草間彌生的經典創作主題。密鋪背景的格狀「無限網」是草間的招牌圖案，經常與其南瓜畫相伴出現。這些網格紋互相交織，緊密有序，畫布彷彿與圖案律動的節奏共鳴。南瓜的色彩鮮明亮麗，幾乎像具有靈性一般，展現這位傳奇藝術家在全盛時期的旺盛創作力。每一個光澤柔潤的圓圈皆在閃閃發亮，蠢蠢欲動，每一行圓點都精心細繪，排列整齊，在南瓜表面微微顫抖，沿著瓜身弧線順勢下滑。

草間的作品直接受她年幼時體驗的幻覺影響，她憶述︰「有一天，我盯著桌布上的紅花圖案看了一會兒，再抬頭往天花板一看，發現周圍都蒙上一層紅花圖案，連窗戶和柱子上也有。我看到整個房間、我的身體和整個宇宙都被紅花所覆蓋，我被消融了，恢復到本原，回歸於無盡，那裡有永恆的時間和絕對的空間。」（引述藝術家，《草間彌生》，紐約，2000年，頁36。）草間被診斷為強迫症患者後，頻密創作成為最有效的自我療法，讓她抵消各種恐懼，遠離精神困擾，套用草間的說法，就是「消除自我，就能回到無垠的宇宙中」（引自藝術家，〈草間彌生〉，《BOMB》，第66號，1999年冬，網上）。草間以繪畫和雕塑轉化縈繞腦海的幻覺，藉著接通了宇宙般的無盡意象，得到個人的心靈平靜，煞費苦心的每一筆成為釋放內心的出口。

儘管《南瓜》畫幅不大，但草間對南瓜形象的執迷卻讓觀眾迷走於其浩瀚宇宙之中。其招牌南瓜置於畫面中心，佈滿精心細繪、排列整齊的圓點，整體造形幾近像具有靈性一樣，俏皮活潑。草間筆下的南瓜已成為獨特的個人標誌，魅力非凡，如此深具寓意的南瓜一直是草間作品中反覆出現的重要主題。草間曾言︰

草間的作品出現南瓜形象，最早可以追溯到二十世紀四十年代，她於京都市立工藝美術學校修習日本膠彩畫的時期。南瓜是藝術家核心的精神力量，源自她年幼時看見的生動幻覺。她曾說︰「我第一次看見南瓜是我唸小學的時候，當時我和祖父在參觀一個種子採集場……一個有人頭般大的南瓜就在那裡……它還開始繪形繪聲地跟我說話」（引述藝術家，〈無限網〉，《草間彌生》，英國倫敦，2011年，頁75）。南瓜是草間畢生藝術的經典代表，象徵其風雨人生路上的平穩和安慰。《南瓜》是草間彌生一幅動人的自我寫照，不但集合其標誌特色，更展示了精細入微的技法，鉅細無遺地體現她獨具一格的視覺語言。