KUSAMA KIDS

My very favorite thing about Artfully Awear is seeing how others are inspired to create their own wearable art.  Leila and Jonah, along with their mother Stephanie, created these fabulous polka-dotted shirts for their visit to the Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum. Stephanie said they were inspired by my Artfully Awear ensembles.  In her words, "The exhibit is so interactive already and interacting with your clothing brings it to the next level."  Have you ever seen a more adorable duo?!  It looks like Leila and Jonah had a blast wearing their Kusama shirts in her infinity rooms!

Have you created any wearable art?  I would love to see it!  Use the hashtag #ArtfullyAwear on social media to share your creations.

YAYOI KUSAMA: Love Is Calling

Dubbed "Rain Room, Part Deux", Yayoi Kusama's I Who Have Arrived in Heaven at David Zwirner in Chelsea has been drawing sizable crowds to 19th Street.  A big fan of Kusama's work (in particular, her infinity rooms), I set out to Chelsea on Saturday afternoon, unprepared for the amusement park-like queues that greeted me.

Since Fireflies on the Water at the Whitney Museum last year, I skipped the line for the similar work Infinity Mirrored Room -- The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away, which commanded the lengthiest line.  The separate line for Love is Calling, moved fairly quickly, and after about 20 minutes, I was admitted into the room for my one minute of viewing.

The experience is delightfully overwhelming, and includes a soundtrack of Kusama's voice penetrating the chamber.  The beautifully luminous tentacles form an environment almost like a seascape, but the sound and infinite reflections make it a bit unsettling.  Endlessness, a theme explored throughout much of Kusama's work, is most notably embodied by these installations, calling to mind the triviality of an individual within the universe.

If you've never experienced one of Kusama's infinity rooms, I recommend a visit to 19th Street, preferably on a weekday.

Have you had a chance to see the exhibition?  How did it make you feel?

Dress: Vintage

Boots: Ash

Handbag: Marc by Marc Jacobs

I Who Have Arrived in Heaven

David Zwirner Gallery

November 8 - December 21, 2013

Photos by Kathy Paciello.

WEARING: Evie Falci at MoMA PS1.

My outfit for the last Warm Up of the season at MoMA PS1 was inspired by Evie Falci's mesmerizing canvases.

The Brooklyn-based artist covers stretched denim with colorful rhinestones, studs, and beads, resulting in these bedazzled works, which she has said are influenced by optical dot paintings of Yayoi Kusama. See my Kusama-inspired outfit post here.

Falci has described her process as spider-like, slowly and meticulously working to create a web of color and texture.  These works the bedazzled interiors and portraits of Mickalene Thomas.

The works exist on multiple levels as craft, sculpture, and painting, and are nonrepresentational, the patterns flowing freely as Falci works, without underpainting or sketches.

Dress: Mara Hoffman

Sandals: Juicy Couture

Cuff: Gift Shop at the Met

Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs (similar here)

Photos by Kathy Paciello; Falci images from artsy.net.