Since the 1960s Kusama has been making sculptures she calls "Accumulations." She affixes sewn-and-stuffed phallic protrusions to everyday objects—ladders, shoes, furniture—which she then arranges in installations, some room-sized. Violet Obsession is a monumental Accumulation: a rowboat with oars, electric purple and covered in irregular oblong forms. The effect is at once humorous and unsettling; Kusama offers a wry commentary on the phallus as a symbol of virility and power.

Gallery label from

Mind and Matter: Alternative Abstractions, 1940s to Now, May 5–August 16, 2010.

Medium Sewn and stuffed fabric over rowboat and oars
Dimensions 43 1/4" x 12' 6 3/8" x 70 7/8" (109.8 x 381.9 x 180 cm)
Credit Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Duke
Object number 819.1996
Department Painting & Sculpture

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Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama

Japanese, born 1929 112 works online

A vital part of New York’s avant-garde art scene from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, Yayoi Kusama developed a distinctive style utilizing approaches associated with Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, Pop art, Feminist art, and Institutional Critique—but she always defined herself in her own terms.

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