digital means to create his tableaux. He also used
digital technology to create such works as Yen
Mountain, in which he substituted the portraits on
Yen notes with his own face, or to design on his
self-promotional website modelled after that of a
department store.
DanFriedmanSeealso: Constructed Reality; Photography in
Japan; Postmodernism; Representation and Gender;
Representation and Race; Sherman, Cindy
Biography
Born in Osaka, Japan 1951. Educated in Osaka. 1974–1978
Kyoto City University of Arts. 1978 Graduated with BA
in Fine Art. First exhibition in Kyoto in 1983. First self-
portrait in 1985 as Vincent Van Gogh. Featured in
Venice Biennale, 1988. Critical acclaim for hisDaughter
of Art Historyexhibition in Tokyo brings him to inter-
national notice, 1990. International exhibitions and col-
laborations in New York, London, and Milan plus
touring shows across Europe and Australia throughout
the mid-1990s. New work involving sculpture, live per-
formance, and web design in the latter part of the dec-
ade. Lives and works in Osaka.
Individual Exhibitions
1983 Galerie Marronnier; Kyoto, Japan
1984 Hiramatsu Gallery; Osaka, Japan
1986 Mon amour violet et autres; Gallery Haku; Osaka
1988 On Gallery; Osaka, Japan
Gallery NW House; Tokyo
1989 Criticism and the Lover; Mohly Gallery; Osaka, Japan
1990 Daughter of Art History; Sagacho Exhibit Space;
Tokyo
Nicola Jacobs Gallery; London
1991 Thomas Segal Gallery; Boston, Massachusetts
Luhring Augustine Gallery; New York, New York
1992 Museum of Contemporary Art; Chicago, Illinois
1993 9 visages; Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain;
Jouy-en-Josas, France
Visions of Beauty; Nishida Gallery; Nara, Japan
1994 Psychoborg; The Ginza Art Space; Shiseido, Tokyo
Psychoborg; The Power Plant, Toronto; Walter Philips
Gallery, The Banff Center for the Arts, Alberta, Canada
Rembrandt Room; Hara Museum of Contemporary
Art; Tokyo
1996 Morimura Yasumasa: The Sickness unto Beauty, Self
Portrait as Actress; Yokohama Museum of Art; Yoko-
hama, Japan
Actress and Art History; Center for Contemporary
Photography; Melbourne, Australia
1997 Actors and Actresses; Contemporary Arts Museum;
Houston, Texas
ART & PUBLIC; Geneva, Switzerland
1998 Self-portrait as Art History Morimura Yasumasa;
Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; The National
Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; Marugame Genichiro
Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art
Group Exhibitions
1984 Can’t You See We Are Not Reticent?Gallery [vju:], Osaka
1985 Smile with Radical Will; Gallery 16; Kyoto
1987 Yes Art deluxe; Sagacho Exhibit Space, Tokyo; Gal-
lery Haku, Osaka, Japan
November East Wind; ON Gallery, Osaka, Japan;
P&P Gallery, Seoul, Korea
Photographic Aspect of Japanese Art Today; Tochigi
Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts; Utsunomiya, Japan
1988 XLIV La Biennale di Venezia, Aperto ’88; Venice,
Italy
Art Now ’88; Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern
Art; Kobe, Japan
1989 Against Nature: Japanese Art in the Eighties; San Fran-
cisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; Akron Art
Museum, Ohio; List Visual Arts Center, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Seat-
tle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington; The Contemporary
Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio; Grey Art Gallery and
Study Center; New York University, New York; Con-
temporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas; ICA Nagoya,
Japan
Art Exciting ‘89: Beyond the Present; The Museum of
Modern Art, Saitama, Japan; Queensland Art Gallery,
Brisbane, Australia
Europalia ‘89 Japan: Japanese Contemporary Art
1989 ; Museum of Contemporary Art; Ghent, Belgium
1990 Reorienting: Looking East; Third Eye Centre; Glas-
gow, United Kingdom
Culture and Commentary: An Eighties Perspective;
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; Washing-
ton, D.C.
Japanese Contemporary Photography: Twelve View-
points; Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography-
Tokyo a`Paris; Pavillon des Arts; Paris, France
Japanische Kunst der 80er Jahrer; Frankfurter Kunst-
verein, Frankfurt am Main: Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn;
Hamburger Kunstverein, Hamburg; Kunstlerhaus Be-
thanien, Berlin; Musuem Moderner Kunst, Wien
Japan Art Today: Elusive Perspectives/Changing
Visions; The Cultural Center of Stockholm, Stockholm,
Sweden; The Exhibition Hall Charlottenborg, Copenha-
gen, Denmark; Helsingin Kaupungin Taidemuseo, Hel-
sinki, Finland; The Reykjavik Municipal Museum,
Reykjavik, Iceland; Museum of Modern Art, Seibu
Takanawa, Karuizawa
1991 Metropolis; Martin-Gropius-Bau; Berlin, Germany-
Trans/Mission- Art in Intercultural imbo; Rooseum Cen-
ter for Contemporary Art; Malmo, Sweden
Zones of Love: Contemporary Art from Japan; Toyko
Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; Art Gallery of
Western Australia, Perth; Art Gallery of South Austra-
lia, Adelaide; Waikato Museum of Art and History, Ha-
milton, New Zealand; Dunedin Public Art Gallery,
Dunedin, New Zealand; Museum of Contemporary
Art, Sydney, Australia
A Cabinet of Signs: Contemporary Art from Post-
Modern Japan; Tate Gallery Liverpool; Whitechapel
Art Gallery, London; Malmo ̈Konsthall, Sweden
1993 Post Human, FAE Muse ́e d’Art Contemporain, Lau-
sanne, Switzerland; Castello di Rivoli, Museo d’Arte
Contemporanea, Torino, Italy; Deste Foundation for
Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece; Deichtorhallen
Hamburg, GermanyMORIMURA, YASUMASA