Yayoi Kusama // Red Nets, 1966

  • Yayoi Kusama, Red Nets, 1966. Oil on canvasboard, 61 × 50.5 cm. Infinity Net painting with dense red looping brushstrokes, signed and dated on the reverse.
    Red Nets, 1966
    Oil on canvasboard, 61 × 50.5 cm (24 × 19 7⁄8 in.)
    © Yayoi Kusama. Image reproduced for educational and informational purposes only.

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    Painted in 1966, Red Nets reflects Yayoi Kusama’s continued evolution of the Infinity Net style during her time in New York. Executed in oil on canvasboard and measuring 61 × 50.5 cm, the work is signed, titled, and dated on the reverse, highlighting her meticulous approach to authorship.

     

    The shift to red distinguishes this painting from her earlier white-on-colour Nets, signalling a move toward bolder chromatic contrasts while maintaining the methodical repetition that defines the series. This period marked an important moment in her career as she expanded the visual language of the Infinity Nets into new variations that challenged the boundaries between abstraction, repetition, and immersive surface.

  • “My nets grew beyond myself and beyond the canvases I was covering. They began to cover the walls, the ceiling, and finally the whole universe.”

    – Yayoi Kusama

    The surface is covered with looping red brushstrokes that spread evenly across the board, forming a dense, continuous pattern. Unlike the larger canvases Kusama exhibited in New York galleries during this period, this medium-scale work demonstrates the same obsessive detail and discipline on a more intimate support. The choice of canvasboard suggests experimentation and portability, while the red palette heightens the visual intensity of the composition. By the mid-1960s, Kusama’s Infinity Nets had become a defining feature of her career, linking painting, environment, and performance through the shared principle of repetition.