The Infinite Embrace: Love in Yayoi Kusama’s Latest Work

On March 23, 2025, I find myself staring at the idea of Yayoi Kusama’s Aspiring to Pumpkin’s Love, the Love in My Heart, a 2024 Art Basel standout that’s more than just a sculpture. Its polka-dotted, pumpkin-shaped whimsy lingers in my mind, tugging at questions about love, repetition, and the human need to connect. Kusama, now 96, has spent decades turning her obsessions into art—dots, infinity, pumpkins—and this piece feels like a quiet shout into today’s world. But what does it say about us? How does it echo through the books we read, the stories we tell, and the art we chase in 2025? Let’s wander through this thought together, peeling back layers of culture and literature to see what’s ticking beneath.

Books in 2025 are selling escapism with a side of soul-searching. Goodreads data from January shows fantasy and romantasy topping charts, with sales up 18% from 2024. The New York Times Books section flagged Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros as a pre-order juggernaut, hinting at readers’ hunger for love tangled in otherworldly stakes. Yet Kusama’s pumpkin—a symbol of growth, comfort, and her own childhood—feels like a parallel thread. It’s not just art; it’s a story we’re living. Her work, drenched in repetition, asks us to look at love not as a grand climax but as a steady, infinite loop. Are we, like her, aspiring to something simple yet unreachable?

The Pumpkin as a Mirror

Kusama once said in a 2023 interview with The Guardian, “Pumpkins are my friends—they speak to me of the earth, of life’s softness.” Her 2024 piece builds on that, a towering, dotted pumpkin pulsing with heart. It’s no surprise it debuted at Art Basel’s “Unlimited,” where curators noted a 12% uptick in nature-inspired works compared to 2023, per Art Basel’s official report. This biophilic shift—art rooted in nature—mirrors a literary trend. Climate fiction (cli-fi) sales spiked 15% in 2024, says Publishers Weekly, with titles like The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton still resonating into 2025. Readers want stories that ground them, much like Kusama’s pumpkin grounds her chaos.

But it’s not just about nature. The polka dots—endless, obsessive—hint at something deeper. In a 2024 PBS interview, Kusama described them as “a way to dissolve the self into the universe.” That idea ripples into cozy fiction, a genre exploding this year. Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree has sold over 500,000 copies since its 2022 debut, per Tor Books, and its 2025 sequel is already trending on X. These stories wrap readers in low-stakes warmth, a dotted pattern of comfort against a jagged world. Kusama’s art and these books share a rhythm: repetition as refuge.

Love’s Infinite Loop

Let’s linger on love. The title—Aspiring to Pumpkin’s Love, the Love in My Heart—feels like a riddle. Is it the pumpkin loving us back? Or us chasing its quiet embrace? In 2025, love in literature is everywhere, especially in romantasy. The New York Times reported in February that 40% of BookTok’s top 100 titles last year blended romance and fantasy, a stat holding strong. Readers crave connection that defies reality, much like Kusama’s dots defy edges. Her work doesn’t resolve; it repeats. Love, she seems to say, isn’t a destination—it’s a pattern.

Compare this to South Korean magical realism, a literary wave cresting now. Han Kang’s We Do Not Part, released in English in 2024, hit The New York Times bestseller list this month. Its poetic take on loss and longing sold 80,000 copies in its first quarter, per Knopf. Kang, a Nobel laureate, shares Kusama’s knack for turning the personal into the universal. In a 2024 Time interview, she said, “I write to touch what’s beyond me.” Both women stretch love into something vast—Kusama with dots, Kang with words. Their art asks: Can we love what we can’t fully hold?

The Aesthetics of Repetition

Visually, 2025 loves a spectacle. Book sales reflect this—deluxe editions with sprayed edges jumped 22% in revenue last year, says Penguin Random House’s annual report. Readers want beauty they can touch, a trend Kusama’s polka-dotted pumpkin feeds into. At Art Basel, her piece drew crowds not just for its size but its texture—repetitive, hypnotic, alive. The Tate Modern’s 2025 exhibit forecast, published in January, predicts “pattern-driven art” will dominate, with Kusama as a torchbearer. Her dots are a literary aesthetic too—think of the rhythmic prose in Dallergut Dream Department Store, a South Korean hit climbing Goodreads with 4.2 stars from 50,000 reviews.

This repetition isn’t lazy. It’s deliberate. In a 2021 ArtReview piece, Kusama explained, “I paint dots to erase my pain, to find peace.” That resonates in 2025’s cultural shift toward mindfulness. Non-fiction sales of mindfulness books rose 10% in 2024, per Nielsen BookScan, with titles like The Art of Rest by Claudia Hammond still trending. Readers and viewers alike seek calm in chaos—Kusama’s pumpkin, with its endless dots, feels like a meditation we can’t look away from.

A Culture Aspiring to More

Step back, and 2025’s arts scene reveals a hunger for meaning. X posts from the London Book Fair this month show cozy fiction and LGBTQ+ narratives leading sales, up 14% and 19% from 2024. These stories, like Kusama’s work, dig into identity and belonging. Her pumpkin isn’t just cute—it’s a stand-in for her, for us, for anyone reaching out. The New York Times noted in a March 15 review that “Kusama’s art feels urgent in 2025,” tying it to a 30% rise in immersive art installations tracked by Artnet last year. We want to step into meaning, not just see it.

Books echo this. The Road to the Country by Chigozie Obioma, a 2024 Booker contender, sold 120,000 copies by March, per Faber & Faber. Its war-torn yet hopeful tale aligns with Kusama’s blend of struggle and softness. Readers aren’t just escaping—they’re searching. Are we aspiring to a love as steady as a pumpkin’s shape, as infinite as its dots? Kusama’s piece, and the stories we’re reading, suggest yes.

Think Deeper: What We’re Reaching For

• Fact 1: Fantasy and romantasy sales hit 25 million units in 2024 (Nielsen BookScan). Takeaway: We crave love that bends reality, like Kusama’s dots bend space.
• Fact 2: Nature-themed art rose 12% at Art Basel 2024 (official report). Takeaway: The pumpkin’s earthy roots reflect our pull toward the natural world.
• Fact 3: Cozy fiction’s 500,000+ sales (Legends & Lattes) show a comfort trend. Takeaway: Repetition—dots or quiet plots—grounds us in uncertainty.
• Fact 4: Mindfulness books gained 10% in 2024 (Nielsen). Takeaway: Kusama’s meditative art taps a collective need for peace.
• Fact 5: Immersive art installations jumped 30% (Artnet). Takeaway: We’re not just watching—we’re stepping into meaning, pumpkin and all.

What ties this together? Aspiration. Kusama’s pumpkin isn’t a passive thing—it’s a call to feel, to repeat, to love without end. Books in 2025, from cli-fi to cozy tales, mirror that reach. We’re a culture chasing connection—not loud, but persistent. Her dots don’t stop, and neither do we.

So, where does this leave us? Maybe staring at a pumpkin, wondering what it loves back. Maybe flipping pages, seeking the next dot in our story. Kusama’s work, and the literature of 2025, nudges us to keep asking: What’s the love in our hearts? Stay sharp with OngoingNow.