MORIMURA YASUMASA

Morimura has been working on the theme of ‘I’ for about 40 years, but what is ‘Morimura Yasumasa’ after all?

In his work, he portrays art historical figures, film actresses and historical figures, and in the real world, he is a photographer, a filmmaker, a writer and a stage performer. It is as if a wide variety of identities are living together in one vessel called Morimura Yasumasa. Morimura rather affirms such ‘lack of unity, unorganized and scattered, mixing of different characters and values, and not creating a hierarchy,’ and states that he would rather avoid ‘convergence to a fixed identity.’

Morimura’s latest, previously unexhibited, and recent works, which will be showcased in this exhibition, are composed of five sections (i.e., five characters) that have no relationship to each other, and are developed in their own ways. Morimura is disguised as Tadaoto Kainoshō, Napoleon, Miró’s paintings, Kafka and Lu Xun. In a total of 14 works, the multiple identities of Morimura Yasumasa quietly and joyfully explode with dissonance.

When we identify ‘I’ with something, our thoughts are fixed right then. If we view the self as an interconnection of subjective experiences that is in a constant state of change, the intentionally scattered state of ‘I’ could be the source of creation. We hope you will enjoy Morimura Yasumasa Five Characters in a Transformer.