Daughter Of Art History

By STEVEN HENRY MADOFF

In our age of digital sleight of hand, few artists ply their trade more slyly than Yasumasa Morimura. Inserting his image into famous works, this Osaka-based master becomes the languorous courtesan (and her maid) in Manet's Olympia or--how could he resist?--the Mona Lisa. Combining photography, painting and computer manipulation, each piece is a wicked homage, turning art history into a gilded vanity mirror. In his new show at New York City's Luhring Augustine Gallery, the farce is lavish and precise, as Morimura continues his wry, gender-bending ways.

--By Steven Henry Madoff