Yasumasa Morimura

To question and disrupt long-established gender and cultural boundaries, Yasumasa Morimura photographs himself in the guise of iconic figures from the history of art. Here he quotes Tom Kelley’s 1949 calendar pin-up of Marilyn Monroe, first published in the inaugural issue of Playboy in December 1953. By presenting the image within the format of a traditional Japanese fan, Morimura highlights the tension between Western and Asian ideals of beauty. Meanwhile, the obvious artificiality of the make-up and prosthetic breasts keep the artist’s own male body visually present, thereby subverting the appeal of the original image and Monroe’s celebrity persona to a heterosexual audience.