April 24, 1990 by On Kawara

On Kawara is a Japanese artist who started out in Japan then eventually travelled to Mexico and France and in 1965 he settled in New York.  While Kawara was in France, he experimented a lot with calendar drawings.  Experimenting with these particular drawings paved the way for more of his art.  Kawara started his “Today” series On January 4, 1966.  This series had a canvas that was neatly organized with the date and stored in boxes that contain newspaper clipping pertaining to that day from wherever Kawara was when he made the paintings.  Kawara didn’t make one for every single day, and they did vary with background color as well as typeface changes.  According to the MoMA, these painting were tedious and took hours for layering and paint to dry.  I found these paintings very interesting because they seem so simple but at the same time it is as if it is capturing an exact moment.  The time of April 24, 1990 is imprinted on this canvas and saved in history.