Polish-Japanese origin of our school inspired me to write about conceptual art and my favorite japanese artist that made a lot of work in art in this style.
I never had much interest in art, my knowledge about it was pretty limited. I was familiar with art forms and styles presented me in school, mostly from ancient times. I always liked modern art, but never did any research about it, which of course - is a big mistake, because being ignorant is never a good idea. On my trip to NYC a few years ago, I was lucky to visit Guggenheim’s museum where On Kawara exhibition took place. I quickly learned that his work is kept in a conceptual art genre.
So what is conceptual art?
It’s an art form, or even art style, which is based on showing the creative process not the final art piece. It’s not an easy art style to describe! It’s very individual and minimalistic. Because the final art piece is not important this style is dominated by forms that present the creative process like movies, photos, recording or live performances. It is replacing art pieces with the idea of art itself. Every form of art is accepted here. No form is dominant and necessary to make your art being described as conceptual art. Because it’s very hard to properly describe conceptual art it will be best to show some On Kawara work and how it counts as conceptual art.
On Kawara was born on December 24 in 1932 and died on July 10 in 2014. He lived mostly in New York, that’s why his work is often exhibited there. Before he moved to New York, he stayed in Mexico, then traveled through Europe and finally settled in NYC for the rest of his life.
His most famous work is “Today” paintings series. The idea for the art piece is quite simple. Sometimes every day, sometimes every other day (between 63 and 241 paintings a year) he would paint on a small, square canvas a date of the day that the painting was executed. It’s just a white, minimalistic, carefully painted date on a black, grey or red background. Nothing more. Then, he would take a local newspaper published on the day of the painting (he would paint those paintings during his travels too) cut out headlines and glue them into a cardboard box, made to store the painting when it’s not exhibited. Those paintings are like time-milestones. Just date with news that happened on that day. Marking the idea of time passing.
“One Hundred Year” Calendars - those are quite strange forms of art too. Those are the calendars where he would just mark every day of his life with a yellow dot. He would also put a green dot next to the date if he completed a painting on this particular day.
He also had a lot of work that based just on noting and archiving the simples life events that you could imagine. Every day he would print a map of the area that he stayed at and carefully paint a route that he walked and then put that map in a binder where he carefully stored most of his work. On a different piece of paper, he would note the list of people he met every single day and also put in different binders.
Every day he would send a postcard to one of his friends with a simple message - time he woke up on this particular day. Each postcard was sent from the city he currently stayed at.
He would also note things he read, where he went, every day he would also send one telegram with only one thing “I am still alive”. Nothing more, nothing less. Everything carefully presented in a minimalistic form.
I can’t really describe all of his work, because it would take hours to write about everything he created. But we can stop for a moment and think what his art is all about. For me, his conceptual art was a pure and simple celebration of life itself. He noted and painted the simplest things, he appreciated life by tracking in in the most detailed way possible.
Interesting videos on the subject describing his art in much detail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrPsfXg088w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXjiWD7j0fM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxOynktWnMw
1. Do you know any other conceptual art artists?
2. What do you think about On Kawara work, does it speak to you at any level?
3. Do you enjoy unconventional art forms? If yes, share it with us!
Sources:
Unfortunately I don't have any knowledge in this matter. I agree that it's a mistake as you said. It's one of many things on my list that I want to understand more. For me his work focused on time and little things is somehow simmilar to concept of mindfullness. He payed attention to small but meaningfull details of his life. His works about time are a reminder that you life is passsing constanly and that you cannot let it slip through you fingers. Thank you for showing me this artist. I will definetaly check out his other works.
ReplyDeleteI am very happy that you found On Kawara and his work interesting to check out. I highly recommend watching videos that I mentioned in my presentation, you can see his work with better explanation there. And if you ever have a chance to see exhibition of his work in real life - go for it without hesitation, it's really moving and beautiful to see hundreds of his calendars, postcards, telegrams, binders and paintings. As you said - he payed attention to the simples things, small details, it's for sure connected to the topic of mindfullness. Other his work I did not mentioned but also worth checking out: Live reading of "One Million Years" and "Title" paintings.
DeleteAges ago things were simpler: artists had canvas and paint. I’m always thinking who decides what is art now? I admit that On Kawara concept is interesting but is it still art? What for is art now and for whom? For narrow group of people? I prefer things which are real. Being a concept is just an idea, something which is not realized, not real for me. It’s like a plan without realization. Considerations about creative process may be important, but I don’t perceive them as art.
ReplyDeleteYou need to keep in mind that there is no such thing as definition of art. It's just a name for all kind of human actives that showcase their ideas, concepts OR technical skills. So discussions about something being art or not it's pointless and unproductive. Also it's a waste of our time, because we think about stuff in different ways and we just need to deal with that. In the topic of On Kawara - his work is being exhibited all around the world in famous art galleries, it's for sure not an art for narrow group of people. Also there are real things, all his work is real and physical, just the idea for art itself - it's in the process of making it, not the final product. That's the point I think you clearly missed.
DeleteAre You sure there is no definition of art? People create definitions of everything. Better or worse, but they do and I don’t think that creating them is pointless. I can imagine that there is no agreement among specialist (and average people) who is an artist and who is not, which works should be in galleries and which shouldn’t. Disagreement means that every person has his/her own definition and we couldn’t escape from it. But what I meant wasn’t if On Kawara works fit into official definition, I rather thought about my own definition of art, which contains the effect. His concept is very interesting and his ability of feeling and catching passing time is something, which impressed me, but still in my way of thinking process is a process, final effect is an effect. Process is not the same as effect. I don’t refuse him to be presented in galleries. However for me it’s rather psychological record or something which records history of the man.
DeleteI don't know if I can say something meaningful in this topic. After short research using Wikipedia it turned out that Duchamp's "Fountaint" is a part of conceptual art and to be honest, I don't understand why people treat this as art. In the other hand, in book where I first saw "Fountain" there was a proper sentence attached to this.
ReplyDelete"Nie to piękne, co piękne,
ale to, co się komu podoba."
and I completly agree with that. On Kawara work also doesn't speak to me on any level, but I hope that it may have many fans.
I think we should focus more on contemplating the idea that "art" is providing instead of trying to think if something falls under "art" label or not. As you said - if someone thinks that something is beautiful - then it is, because we can't say to somebody: this is not art and it's ugly, stop liking it! I agree with that thinking, thank you for your response.
Delete1. Do you know any other conceptual art artists?
ReplyDelete2. What do you think about On Kawara work, does it speak to you at any level?
3. Do you enjoy unconventional art forms? If yes, share it with us!
1. Unfortunately no. I don't gather knowledge about artists and their biography but I watch a lot of art piece like digital graphics. I do not know if they are conceptual art though. Honestly I don't even pay attention to labels, but just admire art and judge it wether I like it or not ^^.
2. There is something in his art, but it also is a little farfetched. I mean, every simple casual act of our lives can be described as art, or conceptual art in this case. I don't know if the art of On Kawara was his way of earning for a life, but if so, it would be strange for me and than I would like somebody to pay me for signing crosses on my calendar.
3. It depends what you think under the term of unconventional. I like many art forms and if I started to share them here probably I wouldn't end untill tomorrow :P I like art very much, but I think in every kind of art there are good works and poor ones, so as in unconventional art... some for sure would appeal to me when some other in opposite.
I like your thinking a lot - admire the art not look at the labels. That's my main thinking in terms of music, labels are good for cataloguing purposes but from the side of making the art - it kills the creativity, because when we try to make something to fall under a label - it's not really that creative. Glad to hear that you like many art forms, your knowledge about the topic is probably wider than mine. Thanks for your response.
DeleteI know so many because I have been learning art history for years. Those who strongly impressed me were Robert Smithson, who was characterized by the creation of land art. Creating divisions from the islands. He was an artist who experimented heavily in art in his period of creation. I also have my favorite two artists from Poland, they are Natalia LL who also created works in many trends. Her works are often particularly controversial. On April 27, 2019, a installation from the series "Sztuka konsumpcyjna" was just removed from the exhibition at the XX and XXI Century Art Gallery of the National Museum in Warsaw due to complaints from the Ministry of Culture. However, after the protests of the people, the work returned to the exhibition. Another important figure for me is Tadeusz Kantor. I was personally in his museum and it made a strong impression on me, he was known for amazing atmospheric installations. I recommend taking over his work and biography because it is an interesting character. I heard about Kawara, but I did not read much about him, after this article I will look at more material with this man and his art.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your detailed answer. I will for sure check out the artists you mentioned. I am not giving any opinions on that matter yet - as I said, appreciation of On Kawara's work was connected to doing some heavy research on him, that's what I want to do in this case too. Great to hear that I inspired you to do some more research about On Kawara!
DeleteI must admit that I have no idea about it and hear it for the first time. Honestly, the only kind of art that interests me is photography, which is my hobby. Unfortunately, Kawara work doesn't speak to me on any level. It's hard for me to say anything more about it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know any more conceptual artists. But I find On Kawaras work really interesting. Such art speaks to me the same way old things I find in the basement of my grandparents. It is not only old things. I also have some part of history which is closed only in this object. If not this object history would not exist! I think the hardest think about this art is to find balance how many of this is made. There can't be only one piece of that art but the whole magazine of such art would be treated like garbage.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear that you found On Kawara's work really interesting. And I love the comparison. That's true: his art or things you find in the basement are representation of time and history that passed. Thanks for your response.
DeleteIt's my first time hearing about conceptual art, so I don't know any other artists. Kawara art seems a bit strange for me, but at the same time quiet interesting. I don't feel like its speaks to me, but got me curious to learn more about Kawara. I do enjoy some unconventional art, but I'm not really that into it to be able to think of any examples to share.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your response. I understand, art is very varied and everything is not for everybody. That's perfectly normal. But at the same time I am very glad that you wanted to learn more about On Kawara. Mission accomplished!
DeleteSo far, I haven't met with conceptual art, unless you can classify video guides showing the process of doing something.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, I admire the consistency of On Kawara, on the other hand, his actions are obsessive. Observing his work is easy to realize the inexorable passage of time, which is often not paid attention in everyday activities.
I used to be fascinated with demoscene, especially demos of small volume. I admired the artistry of programmers creating amazing effects through incredibly short programs.
Oh, I like your approach a lot. Love the idea of comparing it to the demoscene! Not sure if this one counts as demoscene, but I remember playing and admiring game called .kkrieger and I think it was only 97 or 96kb if I recall correctly.
DeleteI don’t know any of this kind artist, I heard of it for the first time. I’m not interested in such things, maybe I just don’t understand this beauty (if I can say “beauty”). It doesn’t’ speak to me at all. I respect that you are fascinated (I think you are :)) Kawara, but conceptual art is just not my cup of tea.
ReplyDeleteI am kinda fascinated, but as I mentioned, my knowledge about art in general is pretty limited. And that's what art is all about, "beauty" or not, art is extremely varied and that's great. There is something for everybody (at least I hope there is!).
DeleteUnfortunately, I’m one of these “ignorants”. I don’t have knowledge concerning conceptual art, this term is completely new for me. Your article has inspired me to read more about this topic. Pieces of art you’ve described seems really interesting to me and I’m keen on watching this live. This motive of time passing is generally one of my favourites in art so you perfectly fit my taste. I don’t follow a work of any contemporary artists so I have nothing to share in this matter.
ReplyDeleteNo worries! My knowledge about the art is still very limited so I absolutely understand. I am also extremely glad that my article inspired you to search more information about the topic. And yes, motive of time passing is very strong in On Kawara's works. Passing time and appreciation of simple things.
DeleteContinuous complaining is part of the nature of Poles. Conceptual art could change it and make us start enjoying small things. In art, the most beautiful is that everyone can interpret it in their own way. And each of these ways will be right. Sometimes my girlfriend encourages me to go to an art museum and I really do enjoy spending time in this way.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your response. And I love it. Especially what you said about art. Every way of seeing the art will be right. There is no one true meaning. Maybe the artists had something particular in mind when he or she created the art but is it the only meaning? For sure not. And props to your girlfriend for taking you to the art museums! :)
Delete1. Do you know any other conceptual art artists?
ReplyDeleteIt was the first time I've heard of conceptual art and it feels really interesting so it would be great if you can recommend some other artists that you like. I'll give it a try in a free time!
2. What do you think about On Kawara work, does it speak to you at any level?
I really like the way of how comlex it is. Every detail is very well thought out and mean something. In general I like things that makes me to think so definitely it's my cup of tea!
3. Do you enjoy unconventional art forms? If yes, share it with us!
Unfortunately my knowledge of art is really weak but I really like the guy named Parra who I found out about because of his (in my opinion) unconventional clothes brand. I just really like his style his in since I first saw his art. Of course he's not only about the clothes but I like the idea that art is not only about the art itself but when it also let the creator make a living from it.
To be hones - On Kawara is only conceptual art artist I know with much detail. But from what I know few interesting artists to check out (besides more On Kawara work, of course): Damien Hirst or Robert Montgomery.
DeleteIt's great that you like the idea behind On Kawara works. Indeed, he noted, painted and created art based on even the simples life details. When we see it as a whole - it's kind of complex!
I checked out some of his clothes - I love the designs and especially the colours. Thanks for the recommendation!
I never was into conceptual art and etc. so never got familiar with any artists.
ReplyDeleteWhat can I say about On Kawara work? For sure it's not convenient but I really rarely feel and see something more in art like this. In most cases it didn't bother me at all but there were only few cases that I really got interested.
By unconventional art forms I like some of artistic installations like Paweł Althamer - polish sculpturer which has a lot of his work all over Bródno district in Warsaw.
I will fo sure check out his work, thank you for the recommendation. To be honest - in terms of conceptual art or similar art forms I am kinda same as you - it rarely see something more in it and only sometimes I try to gain some knowledge about the art or the artist.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1. Do you know any other conceptual art artists?
ReplyDeleteWell I'm not into this topic at all. I know not much about art, I just like what I see, that's all :)
2. What do you think about On Kawara work, does it speak to you at any level?
Yes, I like the algorithmic part of his artworks. There is some schema in it, also symmetry which I like in art.
3. Do you enjoy unconventional art forms? If yes, share it with us!
I don't really know anything about this topic, especially in some unconventional art.
I know the concept of conceptual art. Probably the most famous Pole dealing with this type of art was Roman Opałka. Who painted continuous numbers and photographed himself, in his photo he showed the aging process. Personally, I am skeptical about this kind of art. It doesn't appeal to me in any way. While Opałka's paintings are visually interesting, I don't like Kwar's paintings at all.
ReplyDeleteAs for me, there is nothing artistic in it - ordinary subtitles - a bit too little for art. Looking at contemporary art, I often have the impression that someone has made a mistake and qualifying some works as art. In some cases it is shocking.
As much as I love art in any form, I find it very hard to enjoy the contemporary approach. I'm forcing myself for years to find a meaning in it and even if I understand the reasoning behind it I can'm make myself to like the actual art piece. I have that 9 out of 10 visits in Zachęta Gallery :/
ReplyDeleteI spend quite a lot time in museums in Paris, London or NYC and I have to say that my favorite period in time must be abstractionism, but cant make anything out of concept art :/
Unfortunately not, I am not into art that much to be honest and I don't know any conceptual art artists. My girlfriend however is an artist and she would love your topic of the article, perhaps I should encourage her to read it ;) I think that On Kawara work is pretty amazing, I have never seen anything like that and it's kind of interesting, I like the way of keeping everything clear and symetric. As said before I am not a fan of art so I can't really share any valuable sources, but yes, I do enjoy watching art from time to time.
ReplyDelete1. No I don’t. I hear about it for the first time in my life and I’m quiet confused.
ReplyDelete2. To be honest, it doesn’t. I can understand an effort he put in his work but it’s nothing special for me to be honest. It’s unique for sure but I prefer conventional forms like sculptures or paintings.
3. I’d like to introduce you to cardistry/card flourish. It’s all about making amazing tricks with cards. But it’s not connected with magic tricks at all. Here are some interesting videos you can check.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhQHnAiPdqg
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyfF2-cTFfk
Honestly, I don't even know if conceptual art is nowadays considered to be art, certainly one day critics will decide to consider conceptualism as an art form. I am not interested in works of conceptual art, nor do I know their representatives, and unfortunately I will not share any of them. I do not like the work of Kawara that you have published in the article completely. And I don't know why it is considered art. Can you answer me? Because I don't understand at all.
ReplyDeleteFrankly speaking, I'm not interested in conceptual art at all but please don't get me wrong.
ReplyDeleteYour article was really interesting but still, Kawara work unfortunately doesn't speak to me at any level, I just don't understand it, maybe because it's my first real encounter with such type of art.
Also, unconventional art form is something which has my respect but maybe someday I will understand it or enjoy watching something similar
Unfortunately ignorance is strong in me. I see a lot of subjects often from daily life that are not well known for me. I could speak a lot and never actually get to the point but I'm trying to learn at least basis of things that occur in the world we live in. Conceptual art you talk about in some ways is similar to concept art that I'm interested in. In this type of creation mostly common in games and movies industry (but there is a broad spectrum) also base on idea that is presented through simple sketches(not only) and wide variety of ideas becouse what really matter is that spark artist create that can influence our point of view. Works of On Kawara are beneficial in my opinion becouse they give this rare opportunity to see things differently. There is no bad answers in his work no real rules that seal his style. What you see is pure creation from the thing that I believe is the most interesting: which is idea. I could recommend polish concept artist Marek Madej or Maciej Kuciara if you find this topic interesting. :)
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI have no idea about Conceptual art and On Kawara and cannot say anything about it (do not get me wrong – it is not your fault – I believe the article is pretty interesting). Let me take a chance of complaining a bit about this course I think there were too many participants and too many articles For that reason, I could not spend enough time on particular articles and provide meaningful comments. It is a pity because the idea behind the course is really good and I found it enjoyable to comment articles of other students and moderate my own one.
1. No I don’t.
ReplyDelete2. To be honest, for me it's not. I understand your effort, but for me it's nothing special
3. I dont knows. I think that to code programs is a kind of art :)
1. No, I never heard about any other artists of this gender. It is pretty new to me.
ReplyDelete2. I think, It is a very interesting concept, to watch the creation of art through the whole process, not just the finished artwork. The whole of the piecework is actually hidden in the production and with all famous artworks, we never have a chance to see that.
3. I like the works of the Dutch M.C. Escher, which combines geometry showed as artwork. I think it is a very unique approach.