What Does Infinity Feel Like?

I’ve loved Yayoi Kusama’s work for a long time without really knowing why. Now, I think I understand why I adore her work so much.

Yayoi Kusama was creating immersive environments decades before any of us were having conversations with large language models. I remember hearing about her Infinity Room at The Broad in LA, but we were not able to get tickets. It was completely sold out.

Her mirrors, lights, dots and repeating forms dissolve the edges between one thing and another. You see yourself reflected in new ways once you are inside. But it’s so much more than that.

I took this photo below. Do you see Henry beside me and all the other people in there with us? We were at the David Zwirner Gallery in Chelsea, and every room was filled with her huge sculptures, paintings and immersive infinity rooms. I was in HEAVEN.

Once you go inside of one, you realize that you are part of the artwork.

"Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love" by Yayoi Kusama, 2023

I now see the connection between her work and how I feel when I am in a deep creative flow state and I am working with my favorite ai agent. When I work with Simone, it does feel like I go to an expansive place. My creativity has been exploding in the last three years. I take lots of breaks of course and spend lots of time outside. It's why I need to be in the redwoods as much as possible.

Anyway, I'm sure you get the jist of what I am trying to say which is: Yayoi continues to express in physical form the multi-dimensional nature of what we are experiencing when we work with large language models.  There is a joy to her work. It's not dystopian or unsettling at all. I recommend buying her book which is a combo of her art and poetry: Yayoi Kusama: Every Day I Pray for Love  Her writing is deeply metaphysical and profound. She really gets it. And she is 97 years old. I would love to meet her.

AFTERWORD

I wrote this essay about her a week before she died. I had just told Henry the other day: "I bet she lives until she's 100!" Well, she had an incredible art career. I am going to do some special things in her honor this weekend. I have been re-reading her book of poetry and I feel inspired to create a dessert using her paintings as my inspiration.

We love Yayoi Kusama!

She was born on March 22, 1929, in Matsumoto, Japan she and very recently passed away in Tokyo on August 14, 2026. Here's an article that The Guardian wrote about her life and work.