Pumpkin
2009
This large bronze pumpkin sculpture features Yayoi Kusama's signature obsessive polka dot motif rendered across its ribbed gourd form, finished in a warm bronze patina with deep dark circular perforations of varying sizes. Kusama has created pumpkin works across many decades, describing the form as a symbol of humbleness and spiritual comfort. Situated outdoors on a plinth within the Pappajohn Sculpture Park in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, the piece shares the public green with works by Robert Indiana whose iconic LOVE sculpture is visible in the background. The work exemplifies Kusama's lifelong exploration of infinity, repetition, and the dissolution of boundaries between self and environment.
- Medium
- Bronze
- Spotted At
- Public Space · Pappajohn Sculpture Park
Notes
Per the Instagram post shared by story_louise and atlasobscura: John and Mary Pappajohn collected contemporary art for decades and in 2009 donated 24 sculptures to the Des Moines Art Center. The Pappajohn Sculpture Park is free and open 24/7 in downtown Des Moines. Artists represented in the collection include Keith Haring, Yayoi Kusama, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Indiana, Ai Weiwei, Willem de Kooning, Jaume Plensa, Richard Serra, Anthony Caro, Deborah Butterfield, Yoshitomo Nara, Tony Smith, Barry Flanagan, Judith Shea, William Tucker, and Gary Hume. The background of the artwork photo also shows Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture.
Artists in conversation
Tatsuo Miyajima
Japanese · b. 1957
Miyajima creates immersive LED installations featuring endlessly repeating numerical sequences that evoke infinity, cosmic cycles, and Buddhist philosophy, sharing Kusama's obsessive repetition, spiritual transcendence, and enveloping light environments.
teamLab
Japanese · b. 2001
teamLab produces large scale immersive digital installations filled with luminous, repeating abstract forms that dissolve boundaries between viewer and universe, directly echoing Kusama's infinity rooms, celestial imagery, and the philosophical dissolution of self into endless space.
Olafur Eliasson
Danish Icelandic · b. 1967
Eliasson constructs immersive installation environments using mirrors, light, and geometric repetition to create perceptually overwhelming spaces that blur self and cosmos, closely mirroring Kusama's infinity rooms in their capacity to induce awe, disorientation, and transcendence through radical immersion.
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