Yasumasa Morimura Essay Example

than just art's most famous drag queen. Dealing with cultural and sexual issues he is constantly exploring ideas of image, identity and desire by portraying himself often as a woman and a westerner with strong Japanese features. Over the course of his career, he has photographed himself in over 300 different faces or characters. Yasumasa Morimura considers himself to be a performer so is always in character and in full costume and full makeup, posing in front of the lens and presenting a character that is either historical or someone embodying a current and modern statement.

He has been known to dress up as Christ, Marilyn Monroe and many other characters while attending major exhibitions. As a young student Morimura loved to draw in the traditional Western style. He copied Western masters largely because his school, like most art schools in Japan, taught Western art and art history. As a young, emerging, talented artist, he had trouble deciding how much his style would reflect the Western influence of his education and how much would draw from his native heritage.

He settled on an aspect of Japanese performance, using "psychological makeup," to jumble and redefine the common texts of Western culture, especially movie stars, who he was inspired by. His work is quite similar to American artist Cindy Sherman. He was one of the first international artists to fully use digital photography in the 1980's and has developed a sophisticated craft combining this technology with painstaking makeup, backdrops, and costumes. Morimura is clearly a head of his time.

In the late 1990s Morimura demonstrated his versatility by designing clothing for Japanese fashion designer

Issey Miyake, and he also gained attention as a lecturer, author and singer-songwriter. I chose Morimura Yasumasa because I am completely obsessed with anything and everything Japanese, especially when it comes to art. Yasumasa was an obvious choice for me. I like the fact that he expresses himself through his art with his unique interpretation of his political and social beliefs and is able to push through boundaries and break down barriers.