Yayoi Kusama’smuch-anticipated exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art made waves even before it opened to the public on Oct. 14.

The show “Yayoi Kusama: Infinite Love” sold out its available tickets through November, making it an expected blockbuster in the making for the museum. The Chronicle also recently broke the news ofKusama’s apologyforracist statements about the Black communityin her past writings.

The exhibition’s early popularity wasn’t a surprise. The 94-year old Kusama is one of the most famous artists in the world, with her “Infinity Mirror Rooms” attracting a fervent following of their own in the social media age. Dubbed the “Princess of Polka Dots” for her signature motif, she has enjoyed immense attention in recent years for her selfie-friendly aesthetic, polka dot sculptures and paintings, epic public art installations, and collaborations with brands like Louis Vuitton. Until the publication of Dexter Thomas’article in Hyperallergicin June highlighting the racist passages in the Japanese artist’s novel, memoir and play, her public persona was that of a feminist trailblazer in the art world who had overcome both marginalization and her struggles with mental health.

There are many interesting conversations that can and should happen about how we deal with the work ofartists with problematic histories.In fact,SFMOMAhas a series on the subject in the works for the spring. These are a case-by-case basis for me, but I think it’s also possible to hold multiple thoughts and see work from a variety of positions.

I didn’t personally find it difficult to separate the art from the artist’s past statements (which are abhorrent) when it came to experiencing the two Kusama rooms on view, 2023’s “Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love” and the 2013 installation “Love Is Calling.” Kusama’s 2023 sculpture, “Aspiring to Pumpkin’s Love, the Love in My Heart” is also on display separate from “Infinite Love” and doesn’t require a timed exhibition ticket with an extra surcharge. All three of the works are signature Kusama: pop, immersive, accessible, and very focused on environment and vibe.

In groups of five, visitors are escorted into the two rooms for a period of two minutes. During that time, you’re able to walk around the spaces and gaze at the vast reflections. “Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity” consists of blue, red, green and orange translucent dots on the mirrored walls. “Love is Calling” is a darkened, mirrored environment filled with illuminated, inflated tentacles in different colors, all polka-dotted. In this room, a recording of Kusama reading her poem “Residing in a Castle of Shed Tears” in Japanese plays on loop. It should be noted that Kusama created her first “Infinity Mirror Room” in 1965, long before the ubiquity of camera in phones.

I went through each installation three times. They are a spectacle. The infinite reflections of the rooms are expertly designed with a certain dazzle and carnival whimsy. It’s not hard to see why most people want to create social media content in the spaces. “Love is Calling” especially evokes a surreality, and its sculptural tentacles photograph beautifully.

But the thing that colored my time in the rooms the most was how much the smartphones and selfies took over the experience. I’m not the first writer to point out how much these rooms have both benefited from the exposure of social media and also likely suffer because of it. Whether or not you are engaging in selfies and videos of your own during your two minutes in the rooms, they’re unavoidable. Most if not all of the people around you will likely be using their phones, and it’s hard not to be aware that you’re probably in the path of someone’s lens. You see the phones reflected back at you as much as the polka dots.

This isn’t unique in the 21st century as many special exhibitions at museums have designated areas where visitors can snap branded selfies. There’s even entire immersive attractions a la “The Museum of Ice Cream” that were designed for it. At “Infinite Love,” selfies are not especially conducive to contemplating the expansiveness of the universe or our interconnectivity to other beings, as the artist invites us to. But maybe it’s also just not that deep.

It would be interesting to spend time in Kusama’s rooms with a ban on smartphones and see how that changes the experience. Or, perhaps there’s nothing more to reveal. But given that much of the rooms’ popularity has to do with getting that perfect social media moment, it’s understandable that such a ban is unlikely. For me, two minutes in the rooms was more than enough.

Reach Tony Bravo: tbravo@sfchronicle.com