Pumpkins, peas, peonies: New York celebrates Kusama's cosmic nature exhibition

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama grew up among plants; walking through her grandfather's vast nursery as a child she first saw the pumpkins that would come to define her work. Now, the 92-year-old's sculptures stretch across the 250-acre (100-hectare) grounds of the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx in a major exhibition that was delayed by a year because of the pandemic.(Image Credit: AFP)

Dots are everywhere - on buildings, trees, water and more - as Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama brings her signature motif to the New York Botanical Garden.

Spectacular steel floral installations painted in vibrant hues of yellow and pink, and green and blue and covered with polka dots engulf garden visitors. Giant pumpkins, flowers, an abstract octopus and whimsical shapes carry names such as

The rain could not keep patrons away as the

An exhibit is pictured at the KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature event at the New York Botanical Garden in NY.

Kusama, 92, left Japan at 27 for New York, where she made a name for herself by painting motifs inspired by hallucinations of flashing lights, dots and flowers she has seen since childhood.

Kusama has said that New York gave her neuroses.

Around 1977, a few years after returning to Japan, she voluntarily checked into a mental hospital where she still lives. She is driven to her nearby studio each morning.

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama's

Reportedly, 'KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature' runs through October 31.