A continuation from the artist’s fundamental concept of the fine mesh patterns derived from the artist’s hypnotic Infinity Nets series, Yayoi Kusama’s BIRD ventures into the artist’s exploration of the avant-garde. Executed in 1989, the present work depicts an addition of Kusama’s iconic dots and naturalistic imagery. With a combination of two signature forms: nets and dots, BIRD offers viewers a mirage of multiplication and repetition spread across the canvas. Beginning to paint fruit in the 1970’s, the present composition’s integration of an ethereal, white bird imparts an intriguing narrative complexity informed by the artist’s extensive writing during the 1970s and 80s. Having started writing from a young age, it was upon returning to Japan from America that the artist began to prolifically write, publishing several remarkable novels and poems. Created during a triumphant year for Kusama, 1989 saw a major revival of international interest in the artist marked by the comprehensive Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective at the Centre for International Contemporary Arts in New York, which saw Kusama become the first Japanese artist to grace the cover of the major art journal Art in America.

With the love for the natural world, BIRD projects the artist’s essence on a small but intimate scale. Utilizing an intricate geometric arrangement that sets as the background, the bowl of fruits in this painting further advocates Kusama’s strong understanding between perspective, space and composition. Nets and dots similar to dissections of plants could be seen through the artist’s widespread career, injecting a source of mystery and life into the rhythmic objects in her paintings. Creating a mosaic effect, the two-dimensional shapes of each individual fruit take shape in cracked, contrasting simplicity. Complementing the two-dimensional flatness of the nets, Kusama adds dimension and variance by echoing the roundness of some fruits with her iconic polka dots. The textural variation of the orange and pears create a visceral effect on the viewer, the bight orange and yellow hues springing forward from the blue infinity net behind, with the roundness of the fruit bowl similarly emphasized through a net of polka dots which combine to envelope the scattered fruits, drawing each of the seemingly antithetical compositional elements together in a harmonious confluence of divergent components.

Illuminated in pure shades of white and yellow, the gently balanced bird of the work’s title imbues the present work with an enigmatic quality, relating the piece with the wider world outside of the confines of the canvas. How long the bird will stay, we cannot know, but for now one can marvel at Kusama’s bold evocation of universal infinity.

《鳥 》自草間彌生「無限的網」系列中的基本概念而生，進一步呈現其精細得令人目眩的網格圖案，《鳥》也是草間彌生的一場冒險，開啟了她對前衛的探索。此作在1989年創作，融入自然世界的物象，也是繪有草間彌生經典圓點的又一作品。《鳥》結合了格網和圓點兩大經典形式，其圖案佈滿整幅畫布，為觀者創造連續重複、無限複製的視覺幻象。草間彌生自1970年代已經開始繪畫水果，但此作的構圖中卻加入了一隻優雅脫俗的白鳥，為畫作增添更為複雜且耐人尋味的敘事藝術，而敘事性質的出現其實緣於草間彌生在1970年代至80 年代的大量寫作。草間彌生在年輕時已執筆寫作，但從美國回到日本後，她的文字產量大增，更出版了幾部出色的小說和詩集。1989年是《鳥》的成畫之年，也是草間彌生如魚得水的一年，見證著她再度在國際藝壇引起廣大迴響，紐約國際當代藝術中心舉行呈獻其多年精華的「草間彌生回顧展」，草間彌生同時也成為首位登上主流藝術雜誌《美國藝術》封面的日本人物。

《鳥》滿載著草間彌生對自然世界的熱愛，在平易近人的小尺幅上體現大師精髓。這幅畫以錯綜複雜的幾何花紋為背景，碗中的水果在之上進一步浮現，展示草間彌生對透視、空間和構圖有著深刻獨到的理解。在草間彌生漫長的藝術生涯中，類似於植物橫切面的格網和圓點一直出現在她的作品中，為畫中規律排列的事物增添神秘感和活靈活現的效果。每個水果都各自化成帶裂紋的平面形狀，展現馬賽克般的鑲嵌效果，形狀簡單卻具鮮明的分野。為了平衡格網的平面感，草間彌生以其特色圓點鋪滿部分水果，藉此呼應其渾圓外形，為畫作增添立體感和視覺變化。在碗中藍色的無限網紋襯托下，橙和梨的紋理變化為觀者帶來直接觸動觀感的效果，亮橘和鮮黃的色調顯得呼之欲出，橙和梨幾乎躍於畫上，而覆蓋水果碗的網紋則結合圓點鋪滿畫中散落各處的水果，更加映襯水果碗的圓弧外形，手法讓不同的事物和諧共鳴，讓每個看似對立的構圖元素都自然聚集在畫面中。

與作品標題呼應的鳥，以平衡的姿態徐徐佇立，在純白淡黃的色調下顯得明亮耀眼，鳥將作品牽引至畫布外更廣闊的世界，讓畫作扣上謎一般的神秘特質。到底鳥會停留多久？我們不得而知，但在此刻欣賞畫作的我們可以驚嘆於草間彌生的前衛手法，見證她在畫中映照宇宙的無限性。