The photographer I chose to focus on for this assignment is a photographer named Yasumasa Morimura. He is a Japanese artist, well known for being a "master of self-portraiture". He uses photography to create self-portraits of himself portrayed as different iconic figures such as Mona Lisa, Marilyn Monroe, and Adolf Hitler to name a few. His work ranges from art history, to politics, to even famous celebrities. It is said that Morimura uses this self portraiture as a means to explore "his own identity behind the lens, and charts an evolution with his characters."
Morimura's photography looked very interesting to me because of its boldness and familiarity. Each piece quickly makes a statement and opens up familiar and iconic images for reinterpretation. The pictures below also gave me a similar thought in one way or another. Also, even though Morimura's artwork focuses on meshing Japanese culture with western society through iconic images, I have to admit that some of the pieces were quite hilarious and entertaining (in a good way). This also helped me in choosing the pictures below. To say the least, Morimura's bold photographs leave a lasting impression, which is what I searched for in the images that I found.
Image 1
This image reminded me of Morimura's "Mona Lisa in the Third Place (1998). The use of the iconic picture with something added completely changing the context of the original meaning.
Image 2
This image made me think about the reinterpretation of gender roles, something at Morimura's photographs made me think about as well. He often portrays himself as iconic female figures, so this image to me shows an interesting switch of genders as well when it comes to this iconic figure.
Image 3
This image is another one that uses Mona Lisa to portray a different thought. Using another iconic figure portraying another one, in this case, Barbie being portrayed as Mona Lisa, made me think about the western culture and how it is perceived by other cultures.
Image 4
This image is politically based and makes me think about the more political works that have been done by Morimura. This is an iconic picture that has been reworked to send out a different message while still relating to the original. The original picture which this one is based off of is an iconic picture of Barack Obama (ironically both pictures are by the same artist).
Image 5
This image reminded me of Morimura's work more visually than all the rest. To me it directly relates to a portrait of someone, portraying themself as someone else and also shows a gender switch. This picture shows the Iconic Marilyn Monroe being portrayed by a familiar character Mr. Clean. The image is intriguing and hilarious!
"Taking photographs is generally an act of 'looking at the object, whereas 'being seen' or 'showing' is what is most interest to one who does a self-portrait...self-portraits deny not only photography itself but the 20th century as an era as well...an inevitable phenomenon at the end of the 20th century."
- Yasumasa Morimura
Sources:
http://www.luhringaugustine.com/index.php?mode=artists&object_id=66
http://outsiderjapan.pbworks.com/w/page/9758570/Yasumasa%20Morimura%20-%20The%20Art%20of%20Self-Portaiture%20in%20a%20Post-Modern%20Global%20Japan
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/yasumasa_morimura.htm
http://www.luhringaugustine.com/artists/yasumasa-morimura/#/images/1/
http://randommization.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/art-pieces-barbie.jpg
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jpmoore/shepard-fairey-remixes-his-iconic-hope-poster-for
http://posterchildprints.com/blog/2012/03/new-terry-o%E2%80%99-neill-exhibition-sees-iconic-images-reworked-for-first-time-ever/
http://www.robotmutant.com/2012/01/22/fine-art-kitties/
http://www.menobodyknows.com/nobodyblog/?tag=obama-art
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