Japanese “appropriation” artist Yasumasa Morimura has been recreating scenes from the canon of Western art history for over three decades. The Osaka-based shape-shifter has reimagined himself as Leonardo da Vinci, Frida Kahlo, Marilyn Monroe and Manet’s Olympia, to name a few. By inhabiting these subjects he calls into question a rich visual language that many would naturally consider the fundamental narrative, while also raising issues of race, the male gaze, traditional gender roles and queer theory. For his first major solo show in New York at the Japan Society Gallery he brings together an expansive collection of his paintings, alongside his first feature-length film Ego Symposium, which features twelve influential portraitists. Yasumasa Morimura: Ego Obscura runs at Japan Society Gallery until 13 January.
