Yasumasa Morimura. Theater of the Self

press release:

The Warhol presents a survey exhibition of work by Japanese artist Yasumasa Morimura. Morimura is renowned for his photographic reprisals of iconic images from art history and popular culture in which he replaces the subjects with his own self-image. By Morimura assuming a place in these works, he reimagines historical narratives and, in the process, mixes issues of originality and reproduction, gender, and race to create what he calls a “beautiful commotion.”

Developed by The Warhol in close collaboration with the artist, the exhibition will focus on three important bodies of work: “Requiem” in which Morimura recreates iconic photographs relating to political and cultural life; the “Actors” series in which he assumes the persona of Hollywood luminaries such as Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor; and his “Art History” photographs in which he painstakingly restages well known European paintings.

Morimura’s fascination with the self-portrait, celebrity, gay and transgendered life, art history, and popular culture align him closely with the work of Andy Warhol. The artist has described himself as Warhol’s “conceptual son”.

Yasumasa Morimura
Theater of the Self