Yasumasa Morimura: Animai-no-bi (Ambiguous Beauty)

Yasumasa Morimura is a Japanese photographer and appropriation artist who frequently borrows historic and iconic images and recreates them using his own face and body. Through his work, Morimura has borrowed images from artists ranging from Manet and Rembrandt to Cindy Sherman and Frida Kahlo as a means to explore issues of identity, gender, politics, and art history. For this work, Morimura photographed himself as Marilyn Monroe in her first Playboy pin-up, complete with wig and fake breasts. The reverse side of the fan shows the Japanese character for “love.” The fan is packaged in a box made from Paulownia, a particular type of wood historically used by the Japanese for the presentation of formal fans.