Yayoi Kusama: A Snake
Andy Warhol: Silver Clouds
D’Amelio Terras, New York
December 11, 1997 – January 31, 1998
From December 11, 1997 through January 31, 1998 D’Amelio Terras will present an exhibition of two historic sculptures: Yayoi Kusama’s A Snake (1974) and Andy Warhol’s Silver Clouds (1966). This will be the New York debut for A Snake, and it has been over thirty years since the Silver Clouds were shown in 1966 at Leo Castelli Gallery.
Kusama’s A Snake (1974) consists of a flat canvas support measuring nearly 22 feet in length covered along its entirety with stuffed phallic protuberances. It was created by Kusama in Japan in 1974 and sent to Philadelphia for the exhibition Women’s Work: American Art ‘74 at the Museum of the Philadelphia Civic Center. Following the exhibition, the sculpture was given by Kusama to Donald Judd and subsequently sent to Marfa, Texas.
Warhol’s Silver Clouds (1966) is comprised of dozens of reflective mylar, inflated kinetic sculptures playfully dancing across the gallery ceilings and walls. On loan from The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, this exhibition will offer the first occasion for a younger generation of the New York art public to experience this seminal piece. Thomas Sokolowski states in an introductory text: “Andy wanted us to have it all: that is, experience a pseudo-minimalist, metal sculptural environment; bask in the sheer reverie of a post-Freudian, dream-like state; scoff at the macho, hyper-virility of his sixties’ confreres whose heavy metal works required the assistance of large crews and cumbersome block and tackle to even set them upright; and, finally, rejoice in the absolute fun house atmosphere of the piece.”
Both Kusama and Warhol share a vision and art historical significance that have created amongst future generations an almost cult-like following. Both artists devoured their contemporary culture using it not only as the source for their work but uniquely as a way of life. Kusama’s desire to fully surround and obliterate herself with the soft protuberances of her sculpture is realized in the all encompassing environment of Warhol’s Silver Clouds. The opportunity to exhibit A Snake – earthly, obsessive and biblically tragic – with Warhol’s Silver Clouds – ethereal, kinetic and mercurial – is a unique moment to compare these artists and discover yet another moment where their paths may have crossed.
The Warhol Look / Glamour Style Fashion can currently be seen at the Whitney Museum of American Art through January 18, 1998. Yayoi Kusama in New York: 1958-1968 will open in March at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and then travel to the Museum of Modern Art in New York on July 15.
