Experts are determining whether it is possible to reconstruct one of Japan’s most recognisable works of modern art after it was badly damaged during a recent tropical storm.
The sculpture, a giant black and yellow polka-dotted pumpkin by the celebrated artist Yayoi Kusama, has stood at the end of a pier on the “art island” of Naoshima in the Seto inland sea since 1994.
Although it has survived its share of bad weather, the tourist attraction and Instagram staple was no match for a downgraded typhoon that struck the region, more than 400 miles south-west of Tokyo, on Monday.
Staff at the Benesse Art Site, which owns the piece, looked on helplessly as waves loosened the pumpkin from its metal fastenings at high tide, slammed it into the pier and swept it into the water, where video footage shows it being tossed around like a fantastical sea creature.
直島のシンボルが…..#台風9号 pic.twitter.com/7l9b65ivSe
— 歪みっぱなしの帝国. (@ppdisundia) August 9, 2021
Staff, who managed to retrieve most of the damaged sculpture, usually remove the work from its perch ahead of bad weather, but local meteorological office reports had not predicted the quick deterioration in conditions the storm caused on Monday morning.
The pumpkin, one of Kusama’s best-known works, now lies in three main pieces, according to Benesse employees who are looking into the possibility of repairing it and reinstalling it in its original spot.
“Some smaller pieces were lost in the sea but we have three large main sections that are being stored at the art site while we work with Kusama’s studio to decide what to do next,” a company spokesperson said, adding that the artist had quickly been told about her work’s encounter with the waves.
Rebuilding the fibre-reinforced plastic structure, which is more than 6ft tall and 8ft wide, would require input from Kusama, who is in her early 90s and has been living at a mental health institution in Tokyo since the early 1970s.
Her avant garde art, with its trademark polka-dot and “infinity net” motifs, has been displayed around the world, including at the Tate Modern, the Pompidou in Paris and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington.
A museum devoted to Kusama’s work, which spans six decades, opened in Tokyo in 2017, drawing huge numbers of visitors.
