[ti:Japanese Cosmic Show Meets American Garden]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:00.00]The large, brightly colored circles and pumpkins at the New York Botanical Garden 
[00:07.84]are part of a new show called "Kusama: Cosmic Nature." 
[00:13.38]They are the works of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.
[00:18.27]Tired of staying home during the year-long pandemic, 
[00:22.79]people are quickly buying tickets for the show. 
[00:25.85]It will remain on view through the end of October.
[00:30.37]Most of the artworks are outdoors and are big enough to enjoy 
[00:35.62]while remaining socially distanced. 
[00:37.97]Visitors will want to wear good walking shoes because the show spreads 
[00:43.66]over the 100-hectare garden in New York City.
[00:47.29]The garden fits well with Kusama's complex works 
[00:51.36]which are all related to nature. 
[00:54.45]Kusama grew up in the greenhouses 
[00:57.55]and fields of her family's large seed company in Matsumoto, Japan.
[01:03.88]When Kusama was young, 
[01:06.29]she began seeing colorful images that seemed real to her. 
[01:10.33]In some of them, flowers and pumpkins talked to her. 
[01:15.09]They also involved polka dots or flowers spreading around her.
[01:20.70]Mika Yoshitake is the curator, 
[01:24.74]the person who selects and sets up artworks for the show. 
[01:28.87]"For Kusama, cosmic nature is a life force," Yoshitake said. 
[01:35.51]She explains that Kusama's work brings together things 
[01:40.37][on the Earth and in the stars.
[01:42.88]Karen Daubmann oversees shows at the garden. 
[01:47.23]Beyond the polka dots, she said Kusama's work combines sadness and joy, 
[01:53.68]"which really speaks to the current moment."
[01:56.74]Works appearing at the Kusama show include the nearly 5 meter-high 
[02:02.54]painted bronze "Dancing Pumpkin" (2020). 
[02:06.18]It appears to jump around happily.
[02:09.57]"I Want to Fly the Universe" (2020) is a brightly colored 4 meter-high flower 
[02:16.36]with a face to greet visitors at arrival. 
[02:20.16]"Infinity Mirrored Room - Illusion Inside the Heart" (2020) 
[02:24.99]is an outdoor piece that mirrors its surroundings.
[02:29.51]Inside the Conservatory, or the greenhouse, there is the polka-dotted flowers 
[02:35.60]"My Soul Blooms Forever" (2019) greeting visitors in one room. 
[02:40.43]Nearby, the pink and gold "Starry Pumpkin" (2015) 
[02:44.40]sits among real woodland flowers and leaves in different colors.
[02:49.04]In a body of water, visitors can see "Narcissus Garden" (1966/2021) 
[02:53.90]with 1,400 floating steel balls. 
[02:58.26]In 1966, at the Venice Biennale, 
[03:03.37]Kusama got into trouble for trying to sell the balls for $2 each.
[03:09.18]And tall trees are wrapped in bright red cloth with white polka dots 
[03:15.92]called "Ascension of the Polka Dots on the Trees" (2002/2021).
[03:19.86]Visitors can also view a book of drawings she made in 1945, at age 16. 
[03:27.17]It is full of careful, realistic drawings of plants. 
[03:31.47]Also on view is her "Infinity Net" painting, 
[03:36.43]which she made after seeing the Pacific Ocean from an airplane.
[03:40.51]A small collection of images shows Kusama's life in New York, 
[03:45.78]where she lived from around 1958 to 1973. 
[03:50.38]She was known for doing performance art pieces 
[03:54.38]and leading protests against the Vietnam War.
[03:57.69]Kusama, 92, has lived voluntarily in a Japanese mental hospital for over 40 years. 
[04:06.06]Six days a week, she works in a studio next to the hospital. 
[04:11.12]She has not traveled to the United States since 2012.
[04:16.61]I'm Jill Robbins. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM