Love is Calling

Posted on by The Wandering Art Historian

Last week I visited the Tampa Museum of Art for the first time to experience the “Love is Calling” installation created by Yayoi Kusama.  There is no additional fee to enter this separate installation, but reservations are required as only a small number of guests may enter at one time.

Even if you have seen images, either online or in books, the actual experience of being inside the “Love is Calling” installation is quite remarkable.  The room is built with mirrored walls and the tentacle-like arms reach up from the floor and down from the ceiling.  Each guest is granted two minutes inside the room.  It is a profound, and also fleeting, amount of time.  What a powerful commentary on human existence!

Here is a bit of information on Kusama provided by the Tampa Museum of Art…

For Kusama, the polka dot and infinity signify the relationship between mortals and the unknown expanse of the universe.  As she once remarked, “I wanted to examine the single dot that was my own life.  One polka dot: a single particle among billions.” 

For more information on Kusama and “Love is Calling,” please visit…

http://tampamuseum.org/current-exhibitions/

 

 

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I am writer and artist with a degree in art history who loves to talk to people about art. I have spent the last seven years building up The Wandering Art Historian “brand” as a way to connect with people who want to learn more about art. I give lectures and presentations and teach classes and host book club discussions with a creative or artistic connection. I also write about local artists, events, museums, and exhibitions to promote the arts in Central Florida. In 2021, I had a creative crisis. I struggled with authenticity in the art making process. I decided to make myself vulnerable and find out what a real, genuine Adrienne H. Lee artwork would look like. The process was challenging and emotional and revelatory. I learned that if necessity is the mother of invention, then authenticity is the mother of reinvention. I reinvented myself and learned an entirely new medium. The resulting artwork surprised me, and it will surprise you, too. Some people wish for a fairytale ending. For me, the fairy tale is only the beginning.