SITE
SANTA FE PRESENTS
YASUMASA MORIMURA:
Dialogue with Myself (Encounter)
February 16 - June 2, 2002
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA - SITE
Santa Fe presents YASUMASA MORIMURA'S Dialogue with Myself (Encounter)
(2001), a DVD installation that will run from February 16 through June 2,
2002 in SITE Santa Fe's new Projection Room. The exhibition will run concurrently
with an exhibition of large-scale photographs by THOMAS DEMAND. There
will be a free public opening reception to preview both exhibitions on Friday,
February 15, 2002, 6-7 p.m.
Morimura's video projection piece, Dialogue with Myself (Encounter),
pays homage to the extraordinary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. The DVD projection
is part of a new series of photographic works entitled An Inner Dialogue
with Frida Kahlo, in which Morimura becomes Frida Kahlo to reveal
her world. On screen, Morimura plays the roles of Frida Kahlo, shown in various
personas and hairdos, as well as that of her male accompanist, who sits beside
her playing an electronic keyboard (using compositions by Morimura himself),
while Kahlo shouts out Spanish words and phrases. Morimura re-creates, relives,
and indulges in the painter's artistic process, vividly depicting the glamorous
yet agonizing life of this remarkable woman. He describes Kahlo's art as a
"fierce and intense manifestation of human sentiments and universal themes,
such as joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, beauty, life and love."
Morimura has won international acclaim for his unique and avant-garde expression
of "beauty." His images are rooted in Japanese Kabuki theatre, where male
actors play female parts. Since 1985, his focus has been his "self-portrait"
series, consisting of unique reconstructions of art masterpieces in which
the subject's face is substituted with Morimura's. Through careful study and
analysis of the themes, artists, and historical background of these works,
he searches out their raison d'tre and transforms them according to his own
interpretations. His ability to deconstruct, subvert, and simultaneously create
an homage is what enables his work to continually defy categorization. Lynn
Gumpert in Art in America states: "Morimura's contribution to the genre of
self-portraiture is substantial. He approaches it not only as a revelation
of who he is, but as an exploration of the limitless possibilities to be whatever
he wants."
Morimura has shown extensively in international solo exhibitions, and his
work is in the following selected collections: The Museum of Contemporary
Art, Tokyo; The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; The Modern Art Museum,
Fort Worth; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; The Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston; and The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Concurrently with Dialogue with Myself (Encounter), SITE Santa
Fe presents an exhibition of large scale photographs by German artist THOMAS
DEMAND (February 16-June 2, 2002) and an exhibition of mixed-media works
by FRED TOMASELLI (March 16-June 2, 2002).
SITE Santa Fe is located at 1606 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Exhibition
hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.; Friday, 10:00
a.m. - 7:00 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults and $2.50 for students and seniors;
members are free. Free admission is offered on Fridays, made possible by a
grant from The Brown Foundation, Inc., Houston. Free guided tours are offered
on Fridays at 6:00 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. Tours in Spanish
are by appointment. SITE Santa Fe gift certificates are available. Call 505.989.1199
for more information. This announcement is partially funded by the City of
Santa Fe Arts Commission and the 1% Lodgers' Tax.
VISUALS AVAILABLE
Contact: Press Office
Tel: 505.989.1199
Fax:505.989.1188
email: press@sitesantafe.org
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Dialogue with
Myself (Encounter), 2001
Video still, DVD
Edition of 10
Duration approx. 1 hour
Photo: Larry Lamay
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