On Kawara
° 1933
Born in JP, lives in New York (US).
On Kawara (b.1932-2014) grows up in Kiriya and Tokyo, where he experiences as an adolescent how his people try to process the national trauma of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In 1955-56, as a 23-year-old, he makes a series of 30 death portraits – some based on existing photographs – to capture the horror of this 'atomic time' on paper. The intended publication under the title Death Masks is not realised and the series of drawings – although intended as a moment of remembrance – is forgotten.
After wandering through South America and Europe, On Kawara settles permanently in New York, where, a year later, he makes his first Date Painting: the painted representation of the date and place where he is at that moment, applied to canvas with calligraphic precision. Since then, every day, he records his earthly presence as an ‘existential statement’.
Text: Hans Willemse, 2018
Works
>On Kawara, Thanatophanies, 1955-1995.Print, etchings on woven paper, 30 x (43 x 33 cm).
>On Kawara, LAT 31 25'N LONG 8 41'E, 1966-1967.Painting, acrylic, canvas, 83 x 96 cm.
>On Kawara, APR. 8, 1978, 1978.Series, liquitex on canvas, newspaper clippings, 44 x 33cm.
>On Kawara, On Kawara - I Went, I Met, I Read, Journal 1969, 1992.Book, ink on paper, 30 cm x 22,5 cm.
>On Kawara, One Million Years (Past)-For All Those Who Have Lived And Died -One Million Years (Future)-For The Last One., 1999.Book, offset; paper, 15.1 x 11.6 x 9.1 x 4.4 cm.
>On Kawara, NOV. 14, 2007 and NOV. 14, 2008, 2007-2008.Painting, liquitex on canvas with newspaper dipping, 2 x (45.7 x 33 cm).
Exhibitions & Ensembles
> Exhibition: Chris Reinecke - Haben Sie Zeit zum Lesen?. 14 May 2022 - 21 August 2022.
> Exhibition: EXTRA MUROS: DE INTERNATIONALE - Museum of Affects. 26 November 2011 - 29 January 2012.
> Exhibition: Sanguine/Bloedrood. Luc Tuymans on Baroque. 01 June 2018 - 16 September 2018.
> Exhibition: The collection XXIX – Spirits of Internationalism: 6 European Collections 1956-1986. 20 January 2012 - 29 April 2012.
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> Ensemble: Huis A 37 90 89.
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> Ensemble: M HKA_DEFAULT_WORKS.