On Kawara

On Kawara (1932-2014) is arguably one of the most influential contemporary artist. Born in Japan, Kawara's first exhibitions include the first Nippon Exhibition, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, in 1953, and at the Takemiya and Hibiya galleries the following year. The art of this forerunner conceptual artist was first exhibited in New York—where he has lived since 1965—at Dwan Gallery in 1967, and his one-person exhibition “One Million Years” was shown in Düsseldorf, Paris, and Milan in 1971. Kawara's work was included in Kassel's Documentas 5 (1972), 7 (1982), and 11 (2002), in the Tokyo Biennale (1970), the Kyoto Biennale (1976), and the Venice Biennale (1976).
His work has been included in many conceptual art surveys from the seminal “Information show” at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1970), to “Reconsidering the Object of Art: 1965-1975” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (1995).
Personal exhibitions of his work have included the Centre Pompidou, Paris (1977); the Moderna Museet, Stockholm (1980); Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam (1991); the Dia Center for the Arts, New York (1993); the South London Gallery (2004); and the Dallas Museum of Art (2008).

One Million Years (Box set) #69-70

2010

Mathieu Copeland editions

This edition of 4 audio CDs in a wooden case comprises the reading of On Kawara's One Million Years [Past and Future], with Gemma Saunders as the female voice reading all even numbers and Leo Chadburn as the male voice reading all odd numbers, covering 969 611 BC to 967 811 BC & 33 411 AD to 34 450 AD.

One Million Years (Box set) #51-62

2008

various

sold out

Reading of One Million Years (Past and Future 51 – 62) by male and female voices (250 copies limited edition wood boxed set of 24 audio CDs).

Consciousness. Meditation. Watcher on the Hills – Boxset

2007

English edition

Les presses du réel – Contemporary art – Monographs

(last copies available!)

Box gathering the two volumes of the catalogue Consciousness. Meditation. Watcher on the Hills, published for the world tour of the exhibition by On Kawara.

Consciousness. Meditation. Watcher on the Hills – Volume 2

2007

English edition

Les presses du réel – Contemporary art – Monographs

sold out

Catalogue published, as a second volume, after the world tour of an exhibition by On Kawara Consciousness. Meditation. Watcher on the Hills, gathering the complete documentation produced for the exhibitions and presenting the installations views.

$On Kawara - The \'90s$

The '90s

2004

bilingual edition (English / French)

JRP|Editions - Monographs

sold out

The 1990s in eleven "Date Paintings" As one of the most important Conceptual artists, On Kawara features in most of the surveys on post-war art. This book, conceived in close collaboration with On Kawara himself, takes a very intimate form in comparison to many monographs published recently. This seems an appropriate manner in which to discover eleven paintings created over a decade, letting the viewer complete their reading with personal associations, historical events, or academic interpretations. “Perhaps,” writes Thierry Davila in his text, “art is simply a particular way of taking time … So the work, the on-going creation is essentially a question of using time … ” Seen from this perspective On Kawara has invented a simple and striking way to make art, by taking time, taking his time. He found a way to use the calendar to make a kind of “non-individual” art work. In his Date Paintings, time itself has become a piece of art. The work is pure realism, the existence of time put in painting, thus rendering it—up to a certain point—viewable and readable.