Famed Contemporary Artist Yayoi Kusama Joins the 93rd Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade® With the Debut of the “Love Flies Up to the Sky” Balloon

Yayoi Kusama joins the Parade’s illustrious Blue Sky Gallery – a series of balloons which highlight inflatable artworks by some of the world’s most renowned contemporary artists; the new high-flying art coincides with an exhibition of Kusama’s new work at the celebrated David Zwirner gallery in New York City

Yayoi Kusama, the world-renowned artist, joins the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade’s Blue Sky Gallery series of balloons designed by contemporary artists with the introduction of her creation “Love Flies Up to the Sky” this November. (Photo: Business Wire)

NEW YORK--()--This Thanksgiving, the world’s most renowned female contemporary artist will take her iconic art to new heights as Yayoi Kusama joins the legendary Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade®. On Thursday, November 28, 2019, Kusama’s Love Flies Up to the Sky balloon will debut in the annual holiday spectacle in front of more than 3.5 million spectators and more than 50 million viewers nationwide, as the latest entry in the Parade’s Blue Sky Gallery series, which invites celebrated contemporary artists to contribute artworks to the high-flying lineup.

The Love Flies Up to the Sky balloon was developed by the artist from face motifs that appear in her My Eternal Soul series of paintings--a body of work that she began in 2009. Vibrant and animated, the paintings embody Kusama’s innovative exploration of form and revolve around a tension between abstraction and figuration. The artist’s signature dots — which recur throughout her practice — also feature prominently in the Macy’s Parade balloon design.

Initially planned as works to be hung in sequence, Kusama’s My Eternal Soul series has become an ongoing project. A number of paintings from the series were shown in the United States at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., in 2017. This exhibition subsequently traveled to the Seattle Art Museum, The Broad, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the High Museum, Atlanta. Over 40 paintings from the iconic series will be on view at the forthcoming exhibition of the artist’s work at David Zwirner in New York in November 2019.

“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,” said Susan Tercero, executive producer of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. “This year the world’s most popular living female artist, the iconic Yayoi Kusama, joins the Parade’s acclaimed Blue Sky Gallery series of balloons, making these creations a collection of high-flying art worthy of museums around the world. We can’t wait for millions to enjoy the hypnotic, colorful and whimsical beauty of Love Flies Up to the Sky this Thanksgiving.”

A Kusama creation, the balloon artwork is being transformed from a conceptual drawing into high-flying art by the artists of Macy’s Parade Studio under Kusama’s exacting guidance. Using their expertise in 3D modeling, aerodynamic design and fabrication, the balloon specialists at the Parade Studio have constructed the work of art and painstakingly painted more than 300 of Kusama’s iconic dots on the multidimensional face and radiant biomorphic shapes that make up the unique design.

Coinciding with her upcoming exhibition at New York’s David Zwirner gallery, Kusama’s Love Flies Up to the Sky balloon joins an elite roster of artistic flying wonders previously featured in the Macy’s Parade including works 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).

Yayoi Kusama’s exhibition at David Zwirner in New York will be on view from November 9 – December 14, 2019 at the gallery’s 537 West 20th Street location. The exhibition will feature paintings, sculptures, an immersive installation, and a new Infinity Mirror Room. This exhibition is Kusama’s fourth show with the gallery.

The 93rd annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade kicks off on Thursday, November 28, 2019 and will be broadcast nationally on NBC-TV, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in all time zones.

ABOUT MACY’S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE

With more than 50 million viewers across the country and more than 3.5 million spectators lining up along the streets of New York City each year, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is a national icon that has grown into a world-famous holiday event. Since 1924, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has marked the official start of the holiday season. Growing in size and scale, the Parade proudly marches down a more than 2-mile route in New York City with more than 8,000 participants in tow including Macy’s colleagues, their families, celebrities, athletes, clowns and dance groups, all spreading holiday cheer. Featuring fabulous floats and America’s best marching bands, the signature of the Parade continues to be the world-famous helium balloons.

For more information on the Macy’s Parade please visit macys.com/parade or follow @macys on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and join the social conversation via #MacysParade. (NYSE:M)

ABOUT YAYOI KUSAMA

Contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama was born in Matsumoto, Japan in 1929 and has been creating art for more than eight decades. During her lengthy career her work has transcended two of the most important art movements of the second half of the twentieth century: pop and minimalism. Today, she is the world’s best-selling female artist and holds the record for the highest price paid at auction for a work by a living female artist. According to a recent review of museum attendance by The Art Newspaper, she is also the world’s most popular artist. From 2012-2018, Yayoi Kusama had over 55 solo shows and exhibitions at more than 45 art institutions worldwide, covering more than 23 countries and breaking longtime attendance records. Over 6 million visitors have attended these exhibitions, many often waiting more than two hours to enter the exhibition and experience Kusama’s transformative work. The North American Tour of Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors, which traveled from 2017-2019 to six institutions, had over 599,800 visitors.

Contacts

Orlando Veras, Macy’s Media Relations
646-429-7450; orlando.veras@macys.com

Julia Lukacher, David Zwirner for Yayoi Kusama
212-727-2070; jlukacher@davidzwirner.com

Contacts

Orlando Veras, Macy’s Media Relations
646-429-7450; orlando.veras@macys.com

Julia Lukacher, David Zwirner for Yayoi Kusama
212-727-2070; jlukacher@davidzwirner.com