Yasumasa Morimura
'Yasumasu Morimura: A Requiem' [online] 2012, available: http://www.circulobellasartes.com/blog/yasumasa-morimura-new-requiem/
[accessed 31st May 2014] |
Morimura was born 1951 in Osaka, Japan. He graduated Kyoto City University in 1978, Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia in 1982 and Columbia University, New York in 1985. Morimura is a contemporary artist associated with appropriation art of iconic individuals (i.e Marilyn Monroe, etc) and art-historical pieces (i.e Frida Kahlo's Hand Shaped Earring, etc) part of the Western Canon.
The contemporary artist has a unique way of practice and creates some of his works by making a three dimensional surface that represents the picture. Morimura leaves an empty space where the head of the model is meant to sit and places his head with the help of make-up to impersonate the protagonist of the scene. In the earlier stages of his art career he made the decor oh his images in wax and captures the performance on film without using any digital elaboration. Morimura grew up in a time when his Japanese cultural and traditional heritage came in second place against the traditions of the West. This happened after America dropped the atom bomb and stayed back to keep the Japanese people in place. This event then influenced the Japanese culture because of the Americans stay after the war. His experience of hardship can be found in his some of his works by appropriating art considered part of the Western canon and challenging the ideas of what is known by the audience. |
![]() Self-portrait – After Marilyn Monroe
1996 Gelatin silver prints 44 x 34.5 cm ‘Saatchi Gallery’ [online] no date, available: www.saatchigallery.com/artists/ yasumasa_morimura.htm [accessed 21st Mar 2014] ![]() An Inner Dialogue with Frida Kahlo (Hand Shaped Earring)
2001 Colour Photograph 149.86 x 120.02 cm ‘Luhring Augistine’ [online] no date, available: www.luhringaugustine.com/artists/yasumasa-morimura#/images/18/ [accessed 21st Mar 2014] |