Yasumasa Morimura (1951, Osaka, Japan).
Lives and works in Osaka, Japan.

Yasumasa Morimura is a renowned Japanese appropriation artist who has been working for over three decades as a conceptual photographer and filmmaker.

Defining himself as a cross between an actor and an artist, Morimura is known for his large-scale self-portraits that are often superimposed on art-historical images. Through the extensive use of props, costumes, makeup, and digital manipulation, the artist skillfully transforms himself into recognizable iconic individuals. Morimura’s works are based on renowned paintings by Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh and Diego Velázquez, as well as images sourced from historical materials, mass media, and popular culture.

The artist’s reinvention of iconic photographs and art historical masterpieces challenges the viewer’s associations with the subjects, while also commenting on Japan’s complex assimilation of Western culture. By depicting female stars and characters, Morimura subverts the concept of the “male gaze”, simultaneously questioning the authority of identity and overturning the traditional scope of self-portraiture.

In one of the notable works by Morimura is “Inner Dialogue With Frida Kahlo”, the artist casts himself as the iconic Mexican artist known for her lush, surreal self-portraits.

“As I am being inspired by you, Doña Frida, I drink in what I like to think of as your essence so as to create a Frida of my own, in my own mind’s eye… In that fantastic sphere, the various elements of Doña Frida and myself mix into a muddle, a chemical reaction occurs, creating this imaginary Frida of mine. I wanted to give form to what Doña Frida is to me. Via self-portraiture, that is.” – Yasumasa Morimura

Morimura was nominated for the Hugo Boss Prize in 1996. His work is a part of numerous prominent collections, including Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, NY, USA), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) (San Francisco, CA, USA), J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, CA, USA), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA, USA), Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) (Chicago, IL, USA), Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) (Los Angeles, CA, USA) and Carnegie Museum of Art (Pittsburgh, PA, USA).