We Love You So – Where The Wild Things Are – Spike Jonze

Esteemed woman of arts and letters Margaret Drabble recently released The Pattern in the Carpet, a nonfiction chronicle of jigsaw puzzle history laced with the author’s own personal jigsaw lore. Even in the age of the internet, it seems, analog jigsaw puzzles are a perennial attraction for curious humans.

This truth is one that RxArt has adapted for charitable purposes. The non-profit organization is known for its commitment to bringing art into healthcare facilities as a therapeutic aid to patients, encouraging artistic expression and curating contemporary installations in hospital settings. It’s a noble mission— and an effective one too.

For the holidays, then, RxArt has teamed up with Yayoi Kusama to produce a limited-edition 200-piece puzzle of Kusama’s 2008 Self Portrait. The vivid hues and simple geometry of Kusama’s piece make for an eye-popping image and a puzzle that is bound to divert the Margaret Drabbles of the world. Dan Colen and Terry Richardson have also collaborated on puzzles with the organization, providing puzzles for art-lovers of all proclivities.

The Yayoi Kusama show currently exhibiting at New York’s Gagosian Gallery a is either a splendidly appropriate birthday present to the 80-year-old artist or a free public service for the masses. Either way, it’s worth a pilgrimage to pay tribute or just ponder the void.

A staple of New York’s avant-garde scene in the 1960s, Kusama is known for her psychedelic repetitions and floating dot patterns, both of which originated in hallucinations from a neurotic disorder that Kusama first experienced at age ten.

The exhibit’s crown jewel, the above “Aftermath of Obliteration of Eternity”, is a dazzling installation of white lights draped from the ceiling and reflected on four walls. A shallow pool of water on the ground completes the illusion, and taken in total the installation is an apt expression of infinity (a concept dear to Kusama).

If you can’t get to the exhibition, sate your curiosity with a peek at Kusama’s MySpace.