“Simon Fujiwara: Since 1982”
Simon Fujiwara, The Personal Effects of Theo Grünberg, 2010, color photograph.
Curated by Miguel Amado
“I am my work,” Simon Fujiwara tells us. But not in a Madame Bovary c’est moi kind of way. Rather, the Berlin-based, Japanese-born artist gives us fictions in the guise of autobiography or uses biographical material as bait for his convoluted fish stories. If Fujiwara were a pathological liar, this could be art as public catharsis. In any case, truth and fantasy seem quaint conceits in the context of his performance-minded installations, a few of which, such as The Mirror Stage, 2009, and Letters from Mexico, 2010–11, will be on view in the artist’s solo museum debut. It’s a strange, sweet fact that the show takes place in Fujiwara’s childhood home of St. Ives—unless, of course, he’s lying about that, too.
