1952–1956, Tokyo
On Kawara
Published by Parco Co., Tokyo, 1991, unpaginated, hardcover in slipcase (colour & b/w ill.), 28 × 21.7 cm, Japanese/English
Price: €290

This publication focuses on On Kawara’s previously unstudied five-year stay in Tokyo, where he was part of influential avant-garde art student associations and wrote many pieces of art criticism. His violent and grotesque imagery from this period is in stark contrast to his streamlined conceptual date paintings.

Reproducing the complete Bathroom series (1953–54), Events in a Warehouse (1954), and a number of figurative paintings and drawings executed in Japan. The latter half of this book is a collection of newspaper headlines from 1952 to 1956 in both languages, printed on newsprint.

*Please note this publication is secondhand and has some traces of previous ownership.

#1991 #japaneseavantgarde #onkawara
Date Painting(s) in New York and 136 Other Cities
On Kawara
Published by Ludion, Brussels & David Zwirner, New York, 2012, 280 pp. (colour & b/w ill.), 25 × 28 cm, English
Price: €85

This book contains more than 180 ‘date paintings’ (monochrome canvases painted with the date on which they were done). The first part of the catalogue contains the complete series of paintings On Kawara did in New York, while the second part shows the work he created in 136 other cities.

*Please note this publication is secondhand and has some traces of previous ownership (some damage to the dust jacket).

#2012 #onkawara #painting
One Million Years (Box set) #69-70
On Kawara
Published by Mathieu Copeland editions, London, 2010, wood boxed set of 4 audio CDs, 15 × 13.5 cm, English
Price: €250

One Million Years is originally a 20-volume collection, each volume contains 200 pages and each page holds 500 typed years. Created in 1969, One Million Years [Past] contains the years 998,031 B.C. through 1969 A.D., and One Million Years [Future], created in 1981, contains the years 1981 A.D. to 1,001,980 A.D. The first audio presentation of the reading of One Million Years occurred in 1993 during Kawara’s year-long solo exhibition One Thousand Days One Million Years at the Dia Center for the Arts in New York.

This edition of 4 audio CDs in a wooden case comprises the reading of On Kawara’s One Million Years [Past and Future], covering 969 611 BC to 967 811 BC & 33 411 AD to 34 450 AD.

#2010 #artistedition #experimentalmusic #mathieucopeland #onkawara
Pure Consciousness
On Kawara
Publisher unknown, 2007, 18 pages (b/w ill.), 14.7 × 20 cm, English / Arabic
Price: €18

Produced in conjunction with the Bethlehem leg of On Kawara’s traveling exhibition Pure Consciousness which began in Sydney in 1998. For the exhibition, seven “Date Paintings” from the Today series (1966–2013) are displayed in a kindergarten classroom. The exhibition has traveled around the world to Sydney, Tongyeong, Reykjavik, Istanbul, Goa, Inari, Thimphu, Abidjan, Ulaanbaatar, Toliara and other locations.

#2007 #onkawara #painting
10 Tableaux and 16,952 Pages
On Kawara
Published by Yale University Press, New Haven & Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, 2008, 192 pages (colour & b/w ill.), 21.6 × 28 cm, English
Price: €28

Produced on the occasion of On Kawara’s exhibition at Dallas Museum of Art, 18 May–24 August, 2008.

Since the mid-1960s, On Kawara (b. 1933) has objectively recorded his existence through everyday numbers, words, and found images. This book presents works selected by the artist from throughout his illustrious career, including paintings made at the time of the 1969 moon landings, other large-scale paintings, a 100 Years Calendar, and a vast array of his own books that chronicle his extensive travels, acquaintances, and personal readings.

#2008 #onkawara
Consciousness. Meditation. Watcher on the Hills
On Kawara
Published by les presses du réel, Dijon, 2003, 336 pages (b/w ill.), 18 × 24 cm, English
Price: €30

Produced on the occasion of the tour of the exhibition Consciousness. Meditation. Watcher on the Hills, this publication gathers and documents Kawara’s Date paintings (revealing for the first time their method of production), telegrams and books from the One Million Years series. Texts by Yamamoto, Khalil Gibran, Osho, René Denizot, Michel Gauthier, Franck Gautherot, Jonathan Watkins, Adachi, Penrose, Hamerro, Bohm.

#2003 #onkawara