Roppongi Art Night was full of the most incredible collection of inflatable installations, ranging from the billowing (but ever so slightly lame) cross-between-marilyn monroe's-skirt-and-a-giant (clean) tapeworm
to something made of the same material which, with some fibre optic assitance, looked rather more fun
and a giant blow-up 'Hanako' doll (traditional doll from Tohoku), which was so polite (it kept on saying 'have a lovely time' in Japanese) that you couldn't really get annoyed with how 'teensy bit uninspired' looking it was.
And it was fun to pose with, too, even though her makeup was clearly a lot better than mine
But the 'inflatables' theme entered a whole new league whenever we came across anything by Yayoi Kusama, star of the show and creator of the amazing Pumpkin, which was on display last night at Tokyo's National Art Center
But, brilliant as it was, for me it was overshadowed by her new polka-dot wonderland piece Footprints of Life, on display just down the road at the Design Site
The inflatable (looking) sculptures rose out of the lawn and were actually rather cute... except that they also reminded me of the spooky, menacing one-eyed dream-boulders in Catherine Storr's Marianne Dreams. Eep!
Eventually I overcame my moment of terror and immediately wandered off on my own and almost got swallowed up by some other giant thing out of someone's brain
Luckily I escaped just in time for the main event - another Kusama creation, following the 'giant blow up doll' theme, but this time inspired by Lego
she even came complete with her very own pet dog! Aww.
The darker the sky got, the better everything looked. A quick turn round a maze or two (and a incongruously Japanese dinner (even the prices were in kanji) considering how international the area is) later, what better final view than this firefly balloon pond which seemed to absorb and deaden the cheers coming from the giant lego stadium round the corner.
A tranquil romantic end to a busy night!
Wow is just the simple word that may explain that how much I liked it. It was nicely stuffed with the material I was looking for. It is great to be here though by chance.
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