For Kazuo Ohno’s Admiring La Argentina - in the forest, 2010 - 2018

Hong Kong 2018
For Kazuo Ohno’s Admiring La Argentina - in the forest

MEM

Photography
chromogenic print
12
75.2 x 109.0 （厘米）
29.6 x 42.9 （吋）
Image credit: ©Yasumasa Morimura, courtesy MEM, Tokyo Yasumasa Morimura solo exhibition “High, Red, Central, Action” Yasumasa Morimura (b.1951-, Osaka) exhibited the famous self-portrait as Van Gogh in 1985 in a Kyoto gallery. Since then, Morimura has worked on “Daughter of Art Histori”, a series of the photo-based work in which Morimura inserts himself in the most known Western and Japanese paintings. Morimura simultaneously released “Actress” series, dealing with the icon of Hollywood movie, and “Requiem” series, dealing with the male icon through the 20th century. He performed these iconic figures, who became symbols in certain cultural, social and political context, against a staged backdrop. This exhibition, “High, Red, Central, Action”, includes three series; each one consists of photo and video work. The new series, “High, Red, Central, Action”, is about Hi-Red Center, an artistic group organized by Jiro Takamatsu, Genpei Akasegawa and Natsuyuki Nakanishi in 1964. The second series features Kazuo Ono, a dancer who lead the Butoh movement in the 1960s. The last one is early series, “Cometman”, based on the famous portrait of Marcel Duchamp with comet tonsure. “High, Red, Central, Action” is a kind of documentary of Morimura’s action based on Hi-Red Center’s historical performance “The Sixth Mixer Plan” in 1964. Morimura referred and recreated each artist’s action in Tsuruhashi, his hometown in Osaka. “re: La Argentina” is a reconstruction of a historical dance performance, “La Argentina”, by Ono by Morimura by his own dance performance. Morimura developed an imaginary story inspired by the famous portrait of Marcel Duchamp shot by Man Ray and created a body of photographs and video work documenting his street performance in Kyoto. Morimura’s work stems from his physical existence, which is the essence of his creation. The exhibition pays homage to his predecessors by tracing their performances in his own way.