Charles Atlas
Charles Atlas, Kabuki Starshine (Rehearsal), 1998/2026 (in collaboration with Anohni) | Single-channel video with sound. Duration: 4 minutes 15 seconds | © Charles Atlas, Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York
Gender stands as an interplay between the identities we inherit and the identities we construct, often shifting between visibility, desire and social imagination. Yasumasa Morimura and Charles Atlas center gender and identity throughout their collection of works, in which they question how bodies are remembered. On view at Luhring Augustine Gallery in New York, from Jan. 30 to March 28, the exhibition serves as a study in transmission. What passes from one generation of performers to the next, what disappears and what survives and thrives through the gaze of a camera. They question visibility in capturing gesture, rhythm and the body, which become vessels for queer history, artistic lineage and cultural change.
Yasumasa Morimura is a Japanese contemporary appropriation and performance artist who began his career in painting and photography before turning to self-portraiture. Much of his work involves transforming himself into different narratives spanning photography, video and live performance. His work often interrogates themes of identity, gender, race and postcolonialism as he explores the complex relationship between Japan and Western culture. Complimenting Morimura’s interrogation, Charles Atlas is an American video artist who often reimagines how performance, dance and images intersect. Together, the two examine how the camera shapes, mediates and archives the politics of appearance.
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