CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
Yayoi Kusama, Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity, 2009, wood, metal, glass mirrors, plastic, acrylic paint, and LED, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund. © Yayoi Kusama
Yayoi Kusama Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity
Nancy and Rich Kinder Building
5500 Main Street
Yayoi Kusama (Japanese, born 1929) was living in New York when she created her first Infinity Room in 1965. Engaging the viewer directly, through reflections that project into an infinite distance, these installations combine aspects of Minimalism’s clean use of industrial materials with ritual and performance. Kusama returned to Japan in 1970, and subsequent works became increasingly personal. She marked her 80th birthday with Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity, which references the annual Buddhist Tōrō nagashi (Water Lantern) ceremony honoring one’s ancestors.
When you visit this installation, you are invited to step into the room and stand on the central platform. Over time, a delicate, shimmering mirage unfolds, as lights ignite and are mirrored on every surface. In less than a minute, however, all light disappears—and then the cycle starts anew.
“In the human world, what arouses our body and feeling of vitality is Eternity. I have been living in this Eternity, where enormous love for humanity passes through and the vast brilliance of life is infinitely reflected. . . . We keep flashing, disappearing, and again blossoming out in this Eternity.” —Yayoi Kusama
To learn more, click here.
Do Ho Suh, Portal, 2015, acrylic resin, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum commission funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund and gift of the artist. © 2015 Do Ho Suh
Do Ho Suh’s “Portal”
Kinder Building
“It really needs to be seen in person. Literally and figuratively, it is so transparent—there’s no trick whatsoever—but it creates this incredible illusion because of the way the light hits the milled surface. You sense gravity, the density of weight, in a different way.” —Do Ho Suh
Commissioned by the MFAH and produced with support from collaborators in Colorado, Maryland, and New York, Do Ho Suh’s Portal is installed in the Kinder Building, adjacent to the entrance of the Glassell School of Art.
Do Ho Suh describes Portal as an “impossible” sculpture—at once monumental, weighing nine tons—and seemingly ephemeral, as the exquisitely milled acrylic captures light and reflection, essentially transparent as it encases the image of a traditional Korean gate in negative space.
Portal stands near two other major works commissioned for the opening of the Kinder Building: Ólafur Elíasson’s Sometimes an underground movement is an illuminated bridge and Ai Weiwei’s Dragon Reflection.
The concepts of home, displacement, and transitional spaces are touchstones across Suh’s career. Portal summons the artist’s powerful family legacy, shaped by Korea’s history of war and colonial oppression in the 20th century, which destroyed much of the capital city, Seoul. In the years of reconstruction that followed, Do Ho Suh’s father, Suh Se Ok, himself a renowned artist, built a home for the family with a classical entry portal based on an 18th-century gate.
To learn more about the exhibition, click here.
Arts of Korea Gallery
Law Building
The Arts of Korea Gallery focuses on the dynamic epoch of the Joseon dynasty, showcasing objects from that 500-year era as well as interpretations by three contemporary artists. Works from the growing MFAH collection of Korean art are on view along with prestigious loans from the National Museum of Korea.
Established in 2007, the Arts of Korea Gallery is the first gallery dedicated to Korean art in the American South. The MFAH holdings and displays of Korean art have expanded significantly through important loans, gifts, and major acquisitions. The art spans centuries of artistic production from Korea and includes scholars’ accessories, ritual ceramics, ink paintings, decorative objects from everyday life, and works by contemporary artists Ran Hwang, Geejo Lee, and Lee Ufan.
The new installation, unveiled in May 2024, completely transforms the Arts of Korea Gallery, embodying the austere beauty and artistic restraint of Korea’s Joseon period in concert with the sleek, cutting-edge aesthetics of contemporary Korea. Among the highlights is a recent MFAH acquisition: Ran Hwang’s First Wind—CL, made from thousands of buttons hammered into panels. This monumental masterwork represents the gates of the great Joseon palaces of Seoul, showing the enduring beauty and importance of Korean art.
The 19th-century folding screen Seven Jeweled Mountain depicts, in 10 panels, a panorama of the legendary mountain range renowned for its distinctive topography and said to contain seven treasures. A selection of porcelain ritual bowls and vessels reflects the rites of passage—coming-of-age, wedding, funeral, and ancestor worship—of the Confucian values upheld by the scholar class.
Together, these objects illuminate the beauty and artistry of Korean culture across generations.
To learn more, click here.
