Want to change the world? Be seriously unserious

What happens when one "seriously" plays with the masterpieces by Miro, Pollock, and Sori Yanagi...? Behold, a new perspective!

Artist Morimura Yasumasa's daring curation is created by the collection of Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design. In the six chapters, "Turn it around", "A little mischief never hurt anyone", "We're all different--and that's what makes us special", "Listen to the voices of the stones", "A universe in a box", and "Be serious about copying, and you get the real thing", Morimura suggests his unique new way of appreciating art with a "playful" heart. By changing the approach of viewing an artwork, viewers discover something new, even in well-known masterpieces. Perhaps, this is also true in how we view the world. The book explores ways to approach different worlds through encounters with art, offering something new to discover every time we open it.

The playful book design, such as the holes in the pages and the gimmick of mirroring Miro's painting, was developed by Ken Miki, who also took charge of graphic designs for the exhibition. With many portraits, including the most recent works, the book gives a look over Western art history from the Renaissance to the twentieth century in Morimura style. The visual book in a picture book form contains all Japanese text in hiragana, with an English translation.

Released to accompany the exhibition, "Morimura Yasumasa: Want to change the world? Be seriously unserious" held in Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design.

-Profile
Born in Osaka in 1951, Morimura Yasumasa began creating self-portraits by placing himself in works by other artists in 1985 and has since continued to explore the thematic approach. Recent solo exhibitions include Theater of Self (Andy Warhol Museum, 2013), The Self-Portraits of YASUMASA MORIMURA: My Art, My Story, My Art History (National Museum of Art, Osaka, 2016), The History of the Self-Portrait (Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, 2017), Yasumasa Morimura: Ego Obscura (Japan Society, 2018), and Yasumasa Morimura: Ego Obscura, Tokyo 2020 (Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, 2020). Morimura is an active curator, as well, having served as the artistic director for the Yokohama Triennale 2014. He is also the director of the MORIMURA-AT-MUSEUM, which opened in Kitakagaya, Osaka, in 2018.
Morimura has authored numerous publications, including Taisetsu na wasuremono [Important things left behind] (Heibonsha) and Jigazo no yukue [The self-portrait, adrift] (Kobunsha).