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Cannix Yau

Hong Kong fans and cultural figures have paid tribute to Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama following her death at 97, saying her legacy will inspire generations to come.
Among those expressing sadness on Thursday were West Kowloon Cultural District Authority board chairman Bernard Chan and local design studio AllRightsReserved. Adrian Cheng Chi-kong, former CEO of developer New World Development, shared a photo of himself with Kusama taken in Japan in 2022.
Kusama, known for her signature polka dots and pumpkin sculptures, died on August 14 at a hospital in Tokyo from multiple organ failure. Her studio and Tokyo’s Yayoi Kusama Museum confirmed the news on Thursday.
Chan said the West Kowloon art hub’s M+ museum had been honoured to host the “Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now” exhibition, which ran from November 2022 to May 2023.


“A moment I will treasure forever was travelling to Tokyo in March 2023, to thank her in person,” Chan said in a social media post.
“Spending an hour in her presence was a deeply moving experience I will never forget. She was a singular, visionary force whose art reshaped how we see the world and touched millions across the globe.
“Rest in peace, Kusama-san. Your infinite light and spirit will continue to inspire generations to come.”

AllRightsReserved founder Lam Shu-kam recalled the studio’s collaboration with the late artist in 2007 for the “Yayoi Kusama: Dots Obsession. Soul of Pumpkin” project at the Harbour City shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui. It was Hong Kong’s first large-scale outdoor exhibition of her works, curated by the design company.
“Her iconic pumpkin and infinite dots invited audiences into her extraordinary artistic universe,” Lam said.
“Thank you, Yayoi Kusama, for the inspiration and creativity you shared with the world. Your legacy will continue to live on through generations.”
Actress Ivana Wong Yuen-chi said in a Facebook post: “Thank you for your art, your life, and your devotion. You have opened countless minds, freed soul after soul, and allowed spirits to find hope and comfort in the infinite … Rest in peace, Queen of Polka Dots.”
Art critic Lau Kin-wai said Kusama’s works were very popular among younger generations because her motifs of dots and pumpkins presented a simple, colourful world.
“Her works are no doubt highly commercial. They showed a colourful world with a soothing effect,” he said.
One fan wrote on social media: “She views our entire planet as just one solitary dot among billions of stars in the vast cosmos … By covering everything in dots, she creates a sense of universal unity where everyone is connected as a whole.”

The M+ exhibition on Kusama was popular, drawing 280,000 visitors. With more than 200 works on display, the show marked the largest retrospective of Kusama in Asia outside Japan at the time.
The popularity of the show prompted the authority, which manages the West Kowloon arts hub, to curate and export it to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain in 2023 and the Serralves Museum in Porto, Portugal, in 2024.
A spokeswoman for M+ said that it was “deeply privileged” to have featured Kusama in its inaugural special exhibition following the modern art museum’s opening in 2021.
The exhibition across the three venues – Hong Kong, Spain and Portugal – had attracted about 1.65 million visitors in total, she noted.
“Kusama’s spirit and her art will continue to resonate far beyond her lifetime,” she said.


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Hong Kong arts figures, fans pay tribute to Yayoi Kusama after her death at 97

Members of the public queue up for the “Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now” exhibition at the M+ museum in 2022. Photo: Yik Yeung -man

West Kowloon Cultural District Authority  board chairman Bernard Chan said Yayoi Kusama was a “singular, visionary force”. Photo: Jonathan Wong

AllRightsReserved founder Lam Shu-kam said the artist’s legacy would “live on through generations”. Photo: Sam Tsang

Yayoi Kusama's “Pumpkin: big” exhibited in Hong Kong in 2018. Photo: Felix Wong

“Dots Obsession - Aspiring to Heaven’s Love”, part of the “Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now” show at the M+ in 2022. Photo: May Tse

Yayoi Kusama’s “Flowers That Speak About My Heart Given To The Sky” at an auction preview in Wan Chai in 2023. Photo: Jonathan Wong

An abstract work, titled “Infinity”, by Yayoi Kusama. Photo: Eugene Lee

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The West Kowloon Cultural District Authority signed agreements with 12 international institutions.  Photo: WestK

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Yayoi Kusama, Japanese artist famous for pumpkins and polka dots, dies aged 97

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama waves during a press preview of her exhibition titled “My Eternal Soul” at the National Art Centre in Tokyo on February 21, 2017. Photo: AFP

One of Kusama’s pumpkins is displayed at the Harbour Arts Sculpture Park on Hong Kong’s Central Harbourfront in February 2018. Photo: Sam Tsang

A woman is immersed in the mirrored space of Kusama’s Dots Obsession – Aspiring to Heaven’s Love (2022) during the “Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now” exhibition at M+ museum in Hong Kong in November 2022. Photo: May Tse

Kusama’s Interminable Net #4 (1959). Photo: Yayoi Kusama/Sotheby’s

Kusama paints dots on Kent Feathergill’s body during a live performance in New York in 1967. Photo: Getty Images

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West Kowloon arts hub chief Bernard Chan and AllRightsReserved founder Lam Shu-kam among those expressing sadness at Japanese artist’s death


West Kowloon arts hub chief Bernard Chan and AllRightsReserved founder Lam Shu-kam among those expressing sadness at Japanese artist’s death.


Hong Kong arts figures, fans pay tribute to Yayoi Kusama after her death at 97

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}West Kowloon arts hub chief Bernard Chan and AllRightsReserved founder Lam Shu-kam among those expressing sadness at Japanese artist’s death

West Kowloon arts hub chief Bernard Chan and AllRightsReserved founder Lam Shu-kam among those expressing sadness at Japanese artist’s death