YASUMASA MURIMURA: EGO OBSCURA

Morimura has been at the forefront of international contemporary art. In projects spanning photography, sculpture, performance, and video, he has transformed himself into iconic figures of the past—from Vincent van Gogh and Frida Kahlo to Marilyn Monroe and Yukio Mishima.

For this solo exhibition ini Japan Society, Ego Obscura highlights his 30-year-long project of excavating “the self” from layers of art history, Japanese postwar history, and personal history, de-centering the notion of “the self.” It also feature the U.S. premiere of the artist’s first full-length video work, Egó Sympósion (2016) and his latest cinematic installation Egó Obscura (2018), in conjunction with a live performance, Morimura’s Nippon Cha Cha Cha!.

We designed an exhibit catalogue that features Morimura’s latest work Une Moderne Olympia (2018) on the front cover, contrasted with Portrait (Futago) (1988) — the artist’s work from 30 years prior with different gender and race portrayals — on the back cover. The slim format of the book makes essays and performance scripts easy to follow.