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UID:events.uid.3526@www.discovernikkei.org
DTSTART:20120203T000000Z
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DESCRIPTION:Right now in Manhattan you can see a large group of astonishing
 ly simple  paintings\, installed in multiple branches of a gallery\, that 
  demonstrate a single artist&rsquo\;s global reach. I&rsquo\;m speaking\, 
 of course\, of  On Kawara&rsquo\;s date paintings at David Zwirner.\n\nAll
  joking aside\, the coincidence of Mr. Kawara&rsquo\;s exhibition with Dam
 ien  Hirst&rsquo\;s international Spot Painting extravaganza is illuminati
 ng. Both  are triumphs of personal branding\, systematization and efficien
 cy\, but  with widely divergent levels of cynicism. Speaking broadly\, you
  could  say that one is about time and the other is about money. (Though\,
  as the  adage goes\, the two aren&rsquo\;t all that different.)\n\nZwirne
 r&rsquo\;s &ldquo\;On Kawara: Date Painting(s) in New York and 136 Other  
 Cities\,&rdquo\; at two adjacent spaces in Chelsea\, collects about 150 pa
 intings  made between 1966 and this month. In his continuing &ldquo\;Today
 &rdquo\; series Mr.  Kawara equates painting with marking time. Each canva
 s consists of the  day\, month and year of its making\, recorded in white 
 sans-serif text on a  solid\, usually black background. Each painting must
  be completed within  a day\, or else be destroyed. Some paintings are sto
 red alongside  clippings from the day&rsquo\;s news\; all are logged on a 
 100-year calendar.\n\nVisually the series isn&rsquo\;t as dry as it sounds
 . Mr. Kawara admits the  occasional bright red or blue into his parade of 
 monochromatic  backgrounds\, so that certain dates appear more significant
  (for reasons  that remain mysterious). He works on canvases of different 
 sizes. And  when he travels\, as he often does\, he adjusts his language a
 nd syntax to  reflect the host country&rsquo\;s conventions (i.e.\, &ldquo
 \;26. &Aacute\;G. 1995\,&rdquo\; from  Reykjavik\, Iceland\, or &ldquo\;13
  JUIN 2006\,&rdquo\; from Monte Carlo). In countries  that do not use the 
 Roman alphabet he substitutes Esperanto.\n\nThe Zwirner installation (supe
 rvised by Mr. Kawara) separates New York  paintings from those made in oth
 er cities. That&rsquo\;s too bad\, because the  international paintings st
 art to look like passport stamps.\n\nBut it&rsquo\;s hard to come away fro
 m this show without confronting the  existentialism &mdash\; and fear &mda
 sh\; behind these one-day-at-a-time paintings.  They remain powerfully con
 nected to Mr. Kawara&rsquo\;s other well-known body  of work\, a series of
  telegrams sent to his dealer that bore the message  &ldquo\;I am still al
 ive.&rdquo\; One never worries\, with Mr. Kawara\, that the art  will expi
 re before he does.\n\n
DTSTAMP:20240423T164750Z
SUMMARY:On Kawara
URL:/en/events/2012/02/03/on-kawara/
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