It was an amazing 3 days last week following the every move of Yayoi Kusama as she returned to New York after leaving 29 years ago to go back to Japan.
What an inspiration she was.
She started with a visit to the museum to see her work in the galleries, followed by the opening of the window display at the Louis Vuitton Store on 5th ave, then a visit to the Louis Vuitton pop up store in Soho, a trip to Pier 45 where one of her sculptures was gracing the grassy pier, a trip to Gagosian for a visit and a film interview and a final trip to the Whitney to say hello to the staff and patrons.
There were many amazing moments along the way.
I helped Steve Eichner from WWD by standing in for a light test before he took Kusama's portrait at the museum, I was stampeded by all the press outside the Vuitton store when the crowd went wild over seeing Kusama, I got to take my own portrait and lay in the grass on Pier 45 (see the photo below) and then the best moment of all. As she was leaving the Whitney and was being pushed past another person in a wheel chair she stopped as the man put out his hand. She looked at him and blushed and then asked a simple question. ARE YOU CHUCK CLOSE?