A requiem where is the dictator yasumasa morimura

The self-portraits by the Japanese artist Yasumasa Morimura, Requiem for the XX Century: Twilight of the Turbulent Gods, examines an array of historical figures and political events that have been significant in shaping the 20th century. Employing his usual methodology, Morimura uses costumes, make-up and props to create unconventional and bold renderings of iconic images from history. Each protagonist or event is cast in a moment of apogee, when history is being made and visually captured.

Substituting himself for ideologues, dictators or brilliant minds such as Einstein, Lenin, Che, Mao or Trotsky, Morimura reflects on his personal encounter of these images during his lifetime as well notions of masculinity embedded in politics and war.

By re-contextualizing portraits and events into present day, Morimura offers a fresh look at these prominent men who, moved by wisdom, hate, ideology or idealism have carved a space in our collective psyche.

BO: Tell us a little about how you prepare your shots—the staging, the make up, etc. Where do your ideas originate, and how do you organise the production? I want to do everything myself, including the make-up. But to shoot the video of Lenin, for example, it was necessary to put together a large team. Having a production team is very important. However, I want to keep my position as the artist, the same way a painter is the master of his canvas.

First I take lots of stills with a Polaroid, to set up the shot. BO: Do you shoot in a studio? YM: It varies, according to the context. For the portraits of Lenin and Mishima, I chose to do exterior shots in Osaka, where I was born and still live. Osaka is very important to me as a location. What does each of these mediums bring to you, and how do you choose which subjects you treat with which medium?

YM: The subject determines the medium. To have words and voices, I have to use videos or DVDs, naturally. I wanted to shoot the video of Lenin near a place where factory workers used to live.

I asked the workers to participate in the video, and had prepared texts for them. But when it came time to shoot, I realised that most of the people living there were quite old, and that most of them were homeless, not workers at all. So I was obliged to adapt to the reality of the situation at that moment. Which is why it turned out to be almost a silent film. I decided to borrow two things from Chaplin. First, his play on words and verbal nonsense.

He was very cynical in his impersonation of Hitler. Do you agree with that? Our culture is very hybrid. I prefer to keep these mixtures of artistic influences. Nonetheless, a Japanese spirit and sensitivity will always appear in my art. For example, Ukiyo-e is thought to oppose western painting with its perspective when, in fact, Ukiyo-e painters have alwayas been interested in it, and have tried to apply its techniques, including perspective, to their works.

During the second half of the 20th century, in Japan, there was a fast absorption of a new pollitical, cultural and economic model: occidental capitalism.

How does this context, where you grew up, influenced you, and how have you catalyzed it in your work? I was born in In this time, everything that had been denied before WWII came through.

I grew up in a post-war culture, with an education based on democracy that included western art history. A big student movement aroused when I was on my twenties, and I was also influenced by some left-winged idiologies.

Though I do not regret those things, I feel like I should look back and consider the education I received during my youth, as well the sensibility it made me develop. This looking back mentality is strongly linked to my current Requiem series. You have been often linked with other artists enshrined in appropriation art, as Cindy Sherman. What do you think about it? Could you explain us your point of view about this artistic trend?

All expressions have their contemporaneousness. Many artists apart from Cindy Sherman work with appropriation or quotation. I think this is the contemporarity that happens all over the world at the same time. However, I do not regard my work as appropriation art. Cezanne looked at landscapes as I look at history of art or the 20th century.

What is the function of your presence in your work?