Lemon Squash

A Kusama still life from her mid-1980s print series, Lemon Squash depicts a tall glass of the citrus drink, likely shown frontally with a lemon slice and straw. The screenprint medium allows the artist to flatten the subject into flat, cell-shaded planes of colour with crisp outlines, recalling the Pop idiom she absorbed during her New York years (1958–1973). Everyday consumer objects — drinks, cans, bowls, ashtrays — became frequent subjects in her print practice from this period, treated with the same flat graphic clarity as her infinity nets and dotted forms. The work reflects Kusama's continued dialogue with Pop precedents such as Warhol and Oldenburg, even as it remains thoroughly her own through the application of her recurring dot motif, which often appears scattered across the surface of these still-life subjects. The 1984 print belongs to the period in which Kusama was systematically expanding her editioned output from her Tokyo studio, building a parallel commercial body of work alongside her ongoing painting and sculpture.