Australian Art Exhibit Makes You See Spots, Literally

Made entirely from over a thousand colored dot stickers with the help of kids, this bright piece of modern art in Brisbane, Australia is spotty at best. And that’s a good thing.

Yayoi Kusama's 'The obliteration room' Image

If Willy Wonka were an actual person (the Gene Wilder version, of course) living today, I’d bet all the Everlasting Gobstoppers in the world he would be behind the creation of this eye-popping art exhibit at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, Australia, which from floor to ceiling, is an entire room covered from thousands upon thousands of brightly-colored stickers.

Heck, if it helps add an extra layer of whimsy to this already amazing piece, let’s just say it’s true artist, Yayoi Kusama, is a distant relative of the famous fictional chocolatier. To some, the name of Yayoi Kusama might mean peanuts, but in international art circles she’s a brilliant tour de force, a prolific jack-of-all-trades artist who’s art is the definition of “pop” with it’s use of beaming colors and abstract patterns.

Yayoi Kusama's 'The obliteration room' Image 3

And it’s really on display here with this recent installation, entitled The Obliteration Room, which will be part of her Look Now, See Forever exhibition that runs as of now through March 12. Heh, you want to know what’s even more ambitious about this particular room? None of it’s work was done by Yayoi Kusama herself.

Whoa there folks, don’t bust out tinfoil hats just yet; trust me, there’s no supernatural presence at work here… although, a child’s imagination might be considered “supernatural” if you think about it…

Uh, anyway – no instead, starting with a completely white room, a blank canvas you could say, but with a piano, a large dinner table, and other posh trappings, children who came to the Brisbane exhibit were given free range to decorate the room with colored dot stickers (my eight year old self is so jelly. Oh, who am I kidding, “now me” is so jelly.)

The end result. Well… you go from a room like this:

Yayoi Kusama The obliteration room Blank Table Image

To whamo! This…

Yayoi Kusama's 'The obliteration room' Image 2

So fantastic, and a whole lot of stickers too! Totally reminds me of two favorite things of mine in the world: lots of colors and public defacement. Na, just kidding on that last one; public defacement is very bad kids… except when it’s super cool, then it’s A-OKAY. Like this 8-Bit street art, now animated in stop motion, or this giant Lego-head tribute to Albert Einstein. Not quite as flashy as The Obliteration Room, but still quite awesome.

Images Courtesy of Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art