Enter the serial world of Japan-born conceptual artist On Kawara at Hong Kong exhibition

South China Morning Post

01-06-2025

On Kawara was part of a cohort of 20th century conceptual artists, including his friends Sol LeWitt and Carl Andre, who adopted a minimalist visual language that left a great deal of room for interpretation.
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Born in Japan, Kawara produced abstract, radically obscure art, including:
a 47-year series of paintings of random dates;
a 12-year typed ledger, filed in office binders, of people he met called 'I Met';
a similar series called 'I Went' in which he traced his daily itineraries on photocopied maps and filed them;
thousands of postcards sent from all over the world stating the time he woke up the day he sent each one, and;
bare-bone telegrams with a single message: 'I am still alive.'
Kawara was remarkably prescient in recording his life in a way so reminiscent of how people today constantly check in on social media and share moments that will become an archive of their lives, says Ying Kwok, co-curator of an exhibition of his work at Tai Kwun heritage and arts centre in Hong Kong's Central district.
It is the first major exhibition of the artist's work sanctioned by his One Million Years Foundation since his death in 2014, and focuses on his best-known mature works.
The backs of postcards from Japan-born conceptual artist On Kawara's series 'I Got Up' (1968-1979), He posted them to friends with a simple message noting the time he got up that day. They form part of the exhibition 'On Kawara: Rules of Freedom, Freedom of Rules' at Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong. Photo: Kitmin Lee
Among the items that will be of most interest to Hong Kong visitors to the exhibition are two faded photos of the artist shot from behind as he worked in his room at the Mandarin Oriental hotel during a four-day stay over Christmas in 1978.