On Kawara...

Another artist my tutor suggested was On Kawara. When looking up his work most of what you find is dates written painted onto a plain canvas. When reading an article by The Gaudian I found that these dates are significant in relation to the day they were painted. All are started an completed on the day that is written on the them, All are Sunday and all of course are in his life time. In total On Kawara has completed over 2000 of these paintings in relation to his where abouts and location.

In the early days, having started this idea in the 60's, each painting is accompanied by a newspaper clipping from that day, however he stopped this for an unknown reason. One theory is that he may have felt that the clipping gave too much away or implied something else. 

Something else On Kawara would do would be to sent out telegrams to people he knew simply saying 'I am still alive'. This would be a physical piece of factual information stating the time and date that it was sent as a form of his existence. Along with these were postcards with his own stamp saying 'I got up at...' and the time that he got up that day. 

None of these works appear to be very personal, all in a uniform font with minimal information. Fact based. However they are all in relation to where On Kawara was at that very moment at that time, not only does he include the date but also his location by changing the format or language of his paintings to the country he is in. The postcards all have images of his location and the telegrams would say where they have been sent from. 

Individually On Kawara works make no sense or are easily dismissed, but together you have a record of some ones life. In effect I see the 'today' series as a living artwork, it may not jump out at you or come alive as such, but it has only been around for as long as On Kawara and when he dies it will finally finish. Nothing could be more appropriate to look at along side my project than a series of works recording some ones existence which is exactly what On Kawara's works do. One of the questions in The Guardians article was 'Can you prove that you were alive?' which is exactly what I intend on exploring.

'On Kawara creates his own memorial every day, in the eloquent silences of his works. He exists, and his art is the proof of it.'