An iconic series of conceptual art, On Kawara’s Date Paintings are a meditation on time and the ritual of painting. From 1966 until 2013, the year before his death, Kawara painted the day’s date on a monochromatic background of acrylic paint, each date recorded in the language and style of the country he was in at the time. Any painting that On Kawara had not completed by midnight of the same day he destroyed. When not on display, the paintings are meant to be kept in handmade boxes, which On Kawara lined with local newspaper clippings from the same date and place as the paintings. The paintings, offered together as a group, are each accompanied by its corresponding box. Simple in form, yet profoundly evocative, these ten Date Paintings span the transformative decade of the 1990s. In celebration of the twentieth anniversary of On Kawara’s April 13, 1997, we've compiled a pop culture flashback to each of these dates as well as a 1990s playlist featuring the days' top tracks.
Contemporary Art Evening Auction
18 May | New York