Artist Yayoi Kusama Is Taking Over NYC — Starting With Her Own Balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
At 90 years old, artist Yayoi Kusama is still working around the clock.
First, according to Bloomberg, Kusama will be debuting a new balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade on Nov. 28.
The balloon, titled “Love Flies Up to the Sky,” is a quintessential Kusama piece: a round sun-like character with 300 of Kusama’s signature, hand-painted dots, according to Bloomberg. The balloon is expected to be 34 feet tall and 30 feet wide, and it’s sure to be one of the stars of the parade.
About 40 handlers will float this balloon down the parade path, which is about 2.7 miles, Bloomberg reported. Kusama is well-known on Instagram with over 32,500 followers, but the parade may be the biggest single exposure the artist has ever gotten, Bloomberg reports. Over three million people are expected to attend the parade, and over 20 million are expected to watch it on TV on Thanksgiving morning.
In addition to the parade balloon, Kusama’s latest exhibit has people lining up for hours in New York City just to get a glimpse of the artist’s work in person, according to Bloomberg. The show, entitled “Every Day I Pray for Love” at the David Zwirner gallery, features many of the artist’s new and old works.
But perhaps the most impressive and highly anticipated parts of the exhibition are two of Kusama’s signature Infinity Mirror Rooms. Starting on Saturday, the exhibit will run for five weeks, Bloomberg reported, and the gallery already expects wait lines over two hours, even though visitors will only be able to stay inside the Infinity Mirror rooms for about one minute.
Considering that Kusama’s work has drawn huge crowds around the world, it’s no surprise that art lovers are willing to stand for hours in the cold just to experience a few minutes with her colorful pieces. These rooms are specifically meant for selfie-obsessed art lovers, though the crowds have caused some damage in the past.
More information on the Infinity Mirror Rooms can be found on the David Zwirner gallery website.
