Last week I experienced the compulsive and extraordinary work of Yayoi Kusama, currently on show at the recently re-opened Wellington City Gallery, until Feb 7, 2010.  'Mirrored Years' is a bold and fitting (re)opening exhibition for the City Gallery, and having offered Kusama the entire Gallery (except of course for its new specialised galleries), has been beautifully filled.

The expanded entrance to the Gallery immediately draws in the visitor, confronted by the surreal Narcissus Garden (1966, refabricated in 2008), where hundreds of chrome spheres send your inquisitive and distorted gaze right back at you.  Depending on your sway, you'll end up in either the West Gallery's 'Early Works', or you'll find yourself wandering through Clouds (2008) in the East Gallery while contemplating Love Forever (2004-07).  In the West Gallery you absolutely must make time for Fireflies on the Water (2000, pictured), one of the most serene and phenomenal spaces I have experienced ("It feels like space.." I dumbly uttered, not really thinking beyond the galactic appearance of the room).

Upstairs in the South Gallery, you'll experience the disorientating labyrinth of 'Dots Obsession – Day' (2009) and its accompanying 'Dots Obsession – Night' which left me feeling like an amoeba, and empathetic for gallery staff who have to stand guard in the bizarre space.

Older installation works in the North Gallery are also crucial to the exhibition, with 'Infinity Mirror Room Phalli's Field (or Floor Show)' (1965, refabricated 1998) offering an expansive and white field - countering the Fireflies downstairs, which is a relief after the oppressive 'I'm Here, but Nothing (2000, recreated 2009), a UV-lit domestic scene arranged by the Gallery on Kusama's request, appropriately for the disorientating piece, the room is right from the 1950's in every detail except for the incessant polka dots glaring of every surface.

By bringing together two reflective and comparable decades of Kusama's work (generally the work is pre-1970, and post-1995), Mirrored Years attempts to critically engage in the obsessively recurring themes and inquiries of Kusama's work, most famously the polka dot in its various aesthetic and conceptual manifestations.  If you find yourself near the polka-dotted facade of the City Gallery in the coming months, don't be afraid of forking out your admission charge for this rare opportunity.