Standing in Yayoi Kusama’s small infinity mirror room, “All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins,” at Cincinnati Art Museum, you feel insignificant, like a speck in the universe or a grain of sand in a desert. Reflections of the pumpkins — and you — fan out into infinity and beyond. At the same time, the immersive gathering of pumpkins is uplifting. You are surrounded on all sides by sculptures of different sizes but each holding an inner glow. It’s whimsical, and it makes you smile.
Kusama’s career spans seven decades. Now 97, she describes her pumpkins as a form of self-portraiture. She first encountered pumpkins in the fields of her childhood home in Matsumoto, Japan, saying that they speak to her of the joy of living. “They are both humble and amusing at the same time,” she said. Her pumpkin motifs began appearing in her art in the 1980s. Her first pumpkin mirrored room was featured in the 1993 Venice Bienniale, where Kusama represented Japan.  “All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins” is on loan from the Dallas Museum of Art.

If you go: The installation is ticketed. Free to members. Entrance is limited to two people at any one time and is timed based, allowing each group of visitors 1 minute and 30 seconds in the installation. There are cubby holes for your purses and bags. Read more about it here.