On Kawara: Date Painting(s) in New York and 136 Other Cities
Texts by Dr. Edgar Mitchell, Lei Yamabe, and Lucas Zwirner
For over five decades, On Kawara created paintings, drawings, books, and recordings that examined chronological time and its function as a measure of human existence. His artistic practice was characterized by its meditative approach to concepts of time, space, and consciousness. He began making his now signature date paintings (known as the Today series) on January 4, 1966 in New York City and continued to produce them in different parts of the world up until his death.
On Kawara: Date Painting(s) in New York and 136 Other Cities was published on the occasion of the artist’s fifth solo exhibition at David Zwirner in New York in 2012, which comprised a seminal presentation of over one hundred and fifty of Kawara’s renowned date paintings from 1966 to 2012. On view at the gallery was a comprehensive selection of works painted in New York in one gallery, while a second exhibition space presented works painted in almost all other cities visited by the artist. This large-scale, beautifully designed catalogue provides a comprehensive overview of forty-five years of date paintings and features one hundred and ninety color illustrations. The first part of the catalogue includes the complete series of paintings created in New York, while the second part focuses on a selection of works completed in various cities around the world. Also included are texts by astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell, artist and writer Lei Yamabe, and writer Lucas Zwirner.
Publisher: David Zwirner / Ludion
Artists: On Kawara
Contributors: Angela Choon, Dr. Edgar Mitchell, Tommy Simoens, Lei Yamabe, Lucas Zwirner
Printer: Deckers Snoeck, Antwerp, Belgium
Publication Date: 2012
Binding: Hardcover
Dimensions: 9 3/4 x 11 in (24.8 x 27.9 cm)
Pages: 288
Reproductions: 340 color, 10 b&w
ISBN: 9789461300157
Retail: $60 US & Canada | £35 | €45
Status: Out Of Print
On Kawara
For over five decades, On Kawara created paintings, drawings, books, and recordings that examined chronological time and its function as a measure of human existence. His artistic practice was characterized by its meditative approach to concepts of time, space, and consciousness. He began making his now signature date paintings (known as the Today series) on January 4, 1966 in New York City and continued to produce them in different parts of the world up until his death.
Lei Yamabe
?Lei Yamabe is a fictional writer created as an artistic project by Yuki Okumura, inspired by On Kawara’s work, for essays that explore the uncertainty of our bodily existence. Born in 1978 in Aomori, Japan, Okumura is an artist based in Tokyo. His work has been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions at institutions worldwide, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan (2011 and 2008); Aomori Museum of Art, Japan (2010 and 2009); Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2007); Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery (2004); and the Grey Art Gallery, New York (2001).
Lucas Zwirner
Lucas Zwirner is Senior Director, Sales, and Vice President, Business Development, at David Zwirner. In addition to establishing the ekphrasis series and spearheading the award-winning podcast Dialogues, Zwirner also helps lead select digital initiatives, including Platform, a standalone company founded in 2021. He is also a writer and translator, whose work has appeared in The Drift, The Paris Review, and An Elias Canetti Reader, edited by Joshua Cohen and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. He is a graduate of Yale University, where he studied comparative literature and philosophy.