Yasumasa Morimura

Through the extensive use of props, costumes, make-up, and digital manipulation, conceptual photographer and filmmaker Yasumasa Morimura masterfully transforms himself into recognizable subjects from the Western cultural canon. Morimura’s series include works based on seminal paintings by artists such as Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh, and Diego Velázquez, as well as images culled from history, mass media, and popular culture.

Morimura’s reinvention of iconic photographs and art-historical masterpieces not only challenges the deep-seated associations viewers have with these subjects, but additionally, the artist comments on Japan's complex absorption of Western culture. Morimura’s ability to simultaneously satirize and pay homage to his source material makes his work particularly commanding and intriguing.

Morimura, who is the Artistic Director of the 2014 Yokohama Triennale, has been the subjected of solo exhibitions at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and the Shiseido Gallery and Hara Museum, both in Tokyo.