On, Kawara!

When I first saw the words “On Kawara,” I thought “on” was a preposition and the phrase was an exclamation, like “On, Wisconsin!” I soon learned that On Kawara was a name. He’s a Japanese artist who has lived in New York City for the past thirty-three years.

Since On Kawara moved to NYC in 1966, he has created lots of “date” paintings (known as the Today series). They consist almost exclusively of the date on which the painting was made. The one here was painted thirteen years to the day before my wedding.

That pretty much gives you a picture of what he does. And if he can’t finish a painting the same day he starts it, he tosses it in the trash.

He has created other works such as a 100-year calendar in which he marks off all his 24-hour periods. Talk about your literal rendering of “teach us to number our days...”

Today I saw my first On Kawaras at the Dallas Museum of Art, where I took my creative writing students. My friend, Sharisse, who works there, led us through a great tour which included Kawara 101. She mentioned that the artist marks his age by his days, not his years. So I found a web site that would calculate my own numbered days. Here’s what I learned:

I’m 18,054 days old. And at the time I calculated, that was also 25,997,760 minutes or 433,296 hours or, if you round down, 2579 weeks. You can calculate your day-age here, as well. How "old" are you?

Head for the Dallas Museum of Art if you want to see On Kawara's stuff up close and personal. Also, if you’re a DMA member, buy your tickets now to the “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs” exhibit. It’s here only through May and already tickets—currently available to members only—are selling out fast.