Inside artist Yayoi Kusama’s trippy New York Botanical Garden exhibit

Yayoi Kusama grew up around flowers and plants, carrying her sketchbook to her family’s seed nursery in rural Japan and drawing the violets and peonies. When she was 11, her grandfather showed her a pumpkin for the first time: Eight decades later, the gourd is still one of her favorite muses.

Now, the 92-year-old artist’s nature-inspired sculptures, paintings and “infinity rooms” have landed at the New York Botanical Garden. “Kusama: Cosmic Nature,” opening Saturday after a yearlong delay due to COVID-19, features dozens of works, including four brand-new structures created specifically for the exhibit, spread across the garden’s 250 acres.  Its arrival is like a gift after NYC’s long pandemic winter: a mood-lifting balm that inspires viewers to look at nature — and Kusama’s art — in a new light.