Monday, November 20

Masquerade

Another exhibit I saw this weekend at the LACMA was Masquerade: Role Playing in Portraiture. One of the most impressive works in the exhibit is An Inner Dialogue with Frida Kahlo by Marimura Yasumasa; large in scale and impressive in quality. Yasumara is known for his self portraits in which he assumes the role of subject in historically significant art works. What's interesting about his assuming the role of Frida Kahlo is that she was known for having a large body of self portraits; she actually began painting human forms by examining her own reflection. Yasumasa uses Kahlo's self portrait as a jumping off point to examine himself; how far into the role of Mexican female artist can a Japanese male artist emerge himself?