Yayoi Kusama’s ‘Love Flies Up to the Sky’ balloon to join Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Image: Business Wire
Work by Yayoi Kusama, the celebrated contemporary artist who gave us those famous polka-dot pumpkins and insanely popular Infinity Rooms, will be brightening the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The Japanese artist’s creation, “Love Flies Up to the Sky,” will be part of the parade’s Blue Sky Gallery, a series of balloons that reflect art from the world’s best-known contemporary artists.
The annual holiday spectacle on Thursday, November 28, 2019, will see the debut of Kusama’s “Love Flies Up to the Sky” balloon, developed by the artist based on the vibrant, animated face motifs that appear in her “My Eternal Soul” painting series begun in 2009. The artist’s signature dots also make an appearance in the balloon design. The parade’s balloon specialists and artists of Macy’s Parade Studio have painstakingly constructed the high-flying work of art from a conceptual drawing under Kusama’s exacting guidance.
Kusama’s contribution to the parade will coincide with her exhibition opening November 9 at New York City’s David Zwirner gallery. The exhibition will feature paintings, sculptures, an immersive installation, and a new Infinity Mirror Room.
The Parade’s Blue Sky Gallery series invites contemporary artists to contribute their artworks, which have previously included work by Tom Otterness (Humpty Dumpty), Jeff Koons (Rabbit), Keith Haring (Figure with Heart), Takashi Murakami (Kaikai & Kiki), Tim Burton (B.), KAWS (Companion) and FriendsWithYou (Little Cloud).
According to Susan Tercero, executive producer of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: “In 2005, we began featuring inflatable artworks by the world’s most renowned contemporary artists in the Macy’s Parade lineup with the hope of bringing fine art to the masses and making it more accessible.”
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