George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg Reveal Their Special Connection to a Yayoi Kusama Artwork
An unexpected meeting with the late Japanese artist sparked the design duo to acquire a powerful painting that now hangs in their Toronto home
“I love an underdog story,” says George Yabu. “Abstract Expressionism was such a macho movement of male artists in the New York scene in the ’60s. Yayoi Kusama hung out at the Factory with Andy Warhol, but she was sort of the B team. She was dismissed as a girl from Japan, and her work didn’t resonate with her colleagues and the world of art.
“Maybe 15 years ago, when there was a lot less crossover between the design community and the visual arts, I went to a dinner for Kusama at David Zwirner and was asked if I wanted to come early to meet her. There was a line around the block waiting to see this rock star in the world of art. When she arrived, Kusama saw a bunch of people waiting inside, never mind the people outside, and she made a beeline for me, the Japanese guy.”
“I landed in the city early the next morning from Beijing, and George says we have a meeting before the gallery opens to buy a painting,” recalls Glenn Pushelberg. “And this one just sang to us. We knew we had a treasure at Christmas, when our families got together at our house, and my mother said, ‘That is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen you buy.’ Three years later, we got one of the last privately commissioned Kusama pumpkins, which is also at our house in Toronto.”
“It’s a nice juxtaposition from the canvas to the three-dimensional form,” adds George of the artwork’s placement within the sight line of the yellow-and-black pumpkin sculpture. “You can’t help but look at that painting because it’s so expressive, and when you see it, you can’t help but smile.”
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2026 Late Fall Issue in the section “In Focus.” Subscribe to the magazine.