{"id":1464550,"date":"2022-05-05T07:45:58","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T11:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1464550"},"modified":"2022-05-05T07:46:04","modified_gmt":"2022-05-05T11:46:04","slug":"japanese-artist-yayoi-kusama-is-kardashian-izing-the-art-world-and-the-smithsonians-hirschhorn-museum-is-helping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/japanese-artist-yayoi-kusama-is-kardashian-izing-the-art-world-and-the-smithsonians-hirschhorn-museum-is-helping\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Artist Yayoi Kusama Is \u2018Kardashian-izing\u2019 The Art World, And The Smithsonian\u2019s Hirschhorn Museum Is Helping"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjapanese-artist-yayoi-kusama-is-kardashian-izing-the-art-world-and-the-smithsonians-hirschhorn-museum-is-helping%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1464550&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/33616487770_58abd36bfd_k-1024x768-1.jpeg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>\u201cIs this the line for the narcissism exhibit?\u201d That thought crossed my mind on more than one occasion as I snaked through a series of queues outside the Hirshhorn Museum one recent morning. I wanted to see a <a href=\"https:\/\/hirshhorn.si.edu\/exhibitions\/one-with-eternity-yayoi-kusama-in-the-hirshhorn-collection\/\">new exhibit<\/a> by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, coming but five years after her <a href=\"https:\/\/hirshhorn.si.edu\/kusama\/\">last display at the Hirshhorn<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On second thought, I didn\u2019t <em>want<\/em> to see the exhibit, so much as I felt compelled to walk through its galleries before writing my critique. Experiencing the most recent showing didn\u2019t change <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2018\/04\/27\/art-galleries-willing-go-full-narcissist-can-generate-huge-crowds\/\">my opinion<\/a>: Kusama has \u201cKardashian-ized\u201d the art world.<\/p>\n<h2>Appeal to Vanity<\/h2>\n<p>One question about the show seems obvious: Why would a gallery put on the second major exhibition of an artist\u2019s work in five years? Artists such as van Gogh, Rembrandt, or Picasso don\u2019t warrant such frequent exhibitions from institutions like the National Gallery of Art, so why has the Hirshhorn hosted another Kusama show?<\/p>\n<p>Before answering that question, consider some of the other exhibits currently on view in the nation\u2019s capital, starting with two Hirshhorn shows featuring artists profiled in recent years on \u201c60 Minutes.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/laurie-anderson-60-minutes-2022-04-03\/\">Laurie Anderson<\/a> works at the intersection of media and memory, using video and other <a href=\"https:\/\/hirshhorn.si.edu\/exhibitions\/laurie-anderson-the-weather\/\">non-traditional techniques<\/a> as part of her storytelling methods. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/artist-mark-bradford-the-60-minutes-interview-2019-05-12\/\">Mark Bradford\u2019s<\/a> work \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/hirshhorn.si.edu\/exhibitions\/mark-bradford-picketts-charge\/\">Pickett\u2019s Charge<\/a>,\u201d a modified and mutilated version of a 19th-century cyclorama portrait depicting the Battle of Gettysburg, prompts questions of the meanings of history \u2014 who writes it and how.<\/p>\n<p>Across the National Mall from the Hirshhorn, the National Gallery recently opened a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nga.gov\/exhibitions\/2022\/afro-atlantic-histories.html\">major exhibition<\/a> from Sao Paolo, Brazil, examining the cultural and historical impact of the African diaspora throughout the Americas. All these exhibits have attracted the attention of art critics, and raise important questions regarding our society, culture, and history.<\/p>\n<p>But none of these major exhibits require timed passes for admittance or generate the types of lines I witnessed to get into Kusama\u2019s shows, both in 2017 and this year\u2019s. All of this likely explains why the Hirshhorn, whose membership rolls <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bizjournals.com\/washington\/news\/2017\/02\/22\/for-kusamas-infinity-mirrors-hirshhorn-sees.html\">grew fivefold<\/a> during the first show, as people paid for membership to jump the in-person ticket queue, went back to the financial well again by hosting another Kusama exhibit.<\/p>\n<h2>Faustian Bargain<\/h2>\n<p>But in many respects, the Hirshhorn has made a deal with the devil, selling out to the most vapid and insipid of tastes in another attempt to fill its coffers. The show features but five works, with most attention focused on three, each of which takes up its own room. The \u201cPumpkin\u201d room features a large sculpture of a yellow and black polka-dotted gourd, surrounded by yellow and black polka-dotted walls.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CcatwRqL8H7\/?utm_source=ig_embed&#038;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\"><\/blockquote>\n<p>The two other centerpieces of the exhibit consist of \u201cinfinity rooms,\u201d mirrored chambers in which guests enter for a brief period. One room, entitled \u201cPhalli\u2019s Field,\u201d features a floor covered with red and white polka-dotted phallic sculptures. The second, Kusama\u2019s newest infinity room, contains a series of polka-dotted lanterns that change colors as guests walk through.<\/p>\n<p>While bright and colorful, and of a time and genre consistent with the Hirshhorn\u2019s focus on modern art, Kusama\u2019s work fails to prompt a search for larger meaning. Viewers may enjoy the bright colors and patterns \u2014 or not \u2014 but will find little opportunity, or invitation, to ponder important social themes or cultural constructs.<\/p>\n<p>If at its best art provides spiritual nourishment for one\u2019s mind, Kusama provides visitors with little more than a superficial sugar high. Then again, most guests don\u2019t visit a Kusama exhibit to focus on others.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CcicevbLmc2\/?utm_source=ig_embed&#038;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\"><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Selfie Mania<\/h2>\n<p>Kusama\u2019s use of the infinity rooms as her artistic signature seems particularly ironic. She may hope that observers use the mirrors to gaze out into the world beyond \u2014 \u201cBecome part of your environment. Forget yourself,\u201d a 1968 Kusama quote at the exhibition\u2019s entrance advises \u2014 but most viewers use them to look back at themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Hence the phenomenon during the last exhibit, of the ubiquitous selfies advertising one\u2019s presence \u2014 the better to post on one\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clevescene.com\/scene-and-heard\/archives\/2018\/04\/13\/tickets-for-popular-infinity-mirrors-exhibit-go-on-sale-monday\">social media accounts<\/a>. During the 2017 Hirshhorn exhibit, one art blog <a href=\"https:\/\/news.artnet.com\/art-world\/selfie-smashes-kusama-pumpkin-hirshhorn-museum-873071\">noted<\/a> that \u201ctwo things are closely associated with \u2026 Kusama: pumpkins and selfies.\u201d The two combined for a comedy of errors in February 2017, when a viewer fell during a selfie attempt gone awry, <a href=\"https:\/\/dcist.com\/story\/17\/02\/28\/kusama-exhibit-damaged-by-selfie\/\">damaging a pumpkin sculpture<\/a> in one of the infinity rooms on display that year.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than employing art as a medium to examine social trends, or man\u2019s place in the universe, many, if not most, visitors to the Kusama exhibit will use it primarily as an opportunity for self-promotion. The comparisons to the Kardashians seem obvious, from the superficiality and self-absorption to the obsession with social media and attaining status as an \u201cinfluencer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then again, it\u2019s difficult to blame guests to the Hirshhorn for their narcissistic tendencies. If the Kardashians themselves could <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/entertainment\/news\/potential-jurors-for-kardashians-air-disdain-to-their-faces\/ar-AAWlxwF?ocid=entnewsntp&#038;cvid=d05eee3b90474211bcc7b6ca7b5ae91c\">recently go through jury selection<\/a> in a Los Angeles courtroom unfazed by the insults potential jurors threw their way, why should we expect the average tourist visiting a Kardashian-like exhibit to focus on anything other than himself?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tv\/Ca0ctohAYsM\/?utm_source=ig_embed&#038;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\"><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Focus on Provoking Thought<\/h2>\n<p>As my colleague, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/author\/williamnewton\/\">William Newton<\/a> told me, \u201cWe are supposed to see ourselves in art, but taking that literally is an entirely narcissistic affair.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>At its best, art should prompt some type of thought \u2014 whether understanding the artist and his or her surroundings, contemplating a different place or culture, or exploring abstract concepts like time and being. Even the wokest exhibit qualifies on this front, if for no other reason than by evoking frustration at the way leftist artists and curators can use their work to indoctrinate others.<\/p>\n<p>But don\u2019t expect any of those types of feelings or emotions to come from Kusama at the Hirshhorn. If you\u2019re thinking of getting in the line to take some selfies, just don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  Chris Jacobs is founder and CEO of Juniper Research Group, and author of the book, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1645720020\">The Case Against Single Payer<\/a>.&#8221; He is on Twitter: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/chrisjacobshc\">@chrisjacobsHC<\/a>. Previously he was a senior health policy analyst for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a senior policy analyst in The Heritage Foundation\u2019s Center for Health Policy Studies, and a senior policy analyst with the Joint Economic Committee\u2019s Senate Republican staff. During the debate over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, Jacobs was a policy adviser for the House Republican Conference under then-Chairman Mike Pence. In the first two years of the law\u2019s implementation, he was a health policy analyst for the Senate Republican Policy Committee. Jacobs got his start on Capitol Hill as an intern for then-Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). He holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in political science and history from American University, where he is a part-time teacher of health policy. He currently resides in Washington, D.C.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIs this the line for the narcissism exhibit?\u201d That thought crossed my mind on more than one occasion as I snaked through a series of queues outside the Hirshhorn Museum<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1464550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1464550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1464550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1464550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1464550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1464550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1464550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}