via Wikimedia CommonsArt & Photography / NewsArt & Photography / NewsOh my gourd! Yayoi Kusama’s yellow pumpkin washes out to seaThe famous sculpture was swept off a pier on the Japanese island of Naoshima and left tumbling in the wavesShareLink copied ✔️August 9, 2021August 9, 2021TextFelicity MartinYayoi Kusama at the Tate (2021) Yellow Pumpkin, the six-foot sculpture by Yayoi Kusama, was dislodged and sent tumbling around in the waves after a typhoon hit Japan on Sunday night (August 8). The island of Naoshima, where the famed statue resides, was impacted by strong winds and high tide that struck suddenly. Videos show the art piece swept away from the pier, flipped over and tumbling across the shore as waves toss it around. The yellow and black polka-dot gourd has now been removed for restoration, according to Benesse Art Site of Naoshima. The pumpkin was installed at the tip of the pier in 1994 and is a major attraction on the collection of islands in the Kagawa Prefecture that boast several artworks. In 2019, it was removed ahead of Typhoon Krosa hitting the coast. A video showed a team lifting Yellow Pumpkin together and carrying it down a dock, before being loaded onto a van. Kusama‘s pumpkins have previously suffered other forms of damage: one was stepped on in 2017 by an exhibition visitor leaning over to take a selfie. The Tate Modern is currently showing an exhibition dedicated to Kusama, which includes not one, but two of the Japanese artist’s career-shaping Infinity Rooms. In other Kusama pumpkin news, a German heiress recently pleaded guilty in a London court of defrauding a buyer out of $1.4 million in relation to the supposed sale of a piece by the Japanese sculptor. Watch the pumpkin taking a tumble in the video below. Escape the algorithm! Get The DropEmail address SIGN UP Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday. Privacy policy Thank you. You have been subscribed Privacy policy Expand your creative community and connect with 15,000 creatives from around the world.READ MOREThe dA-Zed guide to Tracey EminThese photos document love and loss in times of political crisisPull&BearKaroline Vitto: ‘I just wanted people to start feeling a bit hopeful’This film explores how two shootings defined the student protest movementThese photos explore the internet’s supernatural depthsBACARDÍIn pictures: Manchester’s electrifying, multigenerational party spiritThis photo book documents the glamour and grit of Placebo’s ascentThis collective is radically rethinking what it means to make artPhotographer Roe Ethridge on sexuality and serendipity These haunting paintings depict daily life in GazaWhat went down at the Dazed Club private view of New ContemporariesThis exhibition opens up one of the world’s largest photography collectionsEscape the algorithm! Get The DropEmail address SIGN UP Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday. Privacy policy Thank you. You have been subscribed Privacy policy