On Kawara’s work centers on the systematic documentation of existence. Through date paintings, telegrams, and lists, he reduced artistic action to the registration of time and presence. Each work functions as a factual statement rather than an expression, emphasizing duration, repetition, and continuity. The format remains fixed while content accumulates, allowing time itself to become the primary material. Kawara’s practice positions art as a neutral recording system, where meaning emerges through persistence rather than interpretation.
On Kawara was a Japanese conceptual artist known for date paintings and works that document time.
