Making Art As a Form of Meditation

Guggenheim Museum senior curator Jeffrey Weiss discuss his new exhibit, “On Kawara – Silence.” Born in Kariya, Japan, Kawara achieved early recognition during the 1950s as a young member of the Tokyo avant-garde. The artist left Japan in 1959, moving first to Mexico City and then to Paris before settling in New York City. During that period, his practice acquired the form it would take thereafter—the intermittent yet persistent production of paintings and other works, most of which serve to identify the time and place of the artist’s whereabouts on the day they were made. The exhibit opens Friday, Feb 6 and runs through May 3.

On Kawara DEC. 29, 1977 “Thursday.” New York From Today, 1966–2013 Acrylic on canvas, 8 x 10 inches (20.3 x 25.4 cm) Pictured with artist-made cardboard storage boxes

(Courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London)

On Kawara JUN 10 1975 From I Got Up, 1968–79 Stamped ink on postcard, 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches (8.9 x 4 cm)

(Collection of Keiji and Sawako Usami)

On Kawara I Went, 1968–79 Clothbound loose-leaf binders with plastic sleeves and inserted printed matter Twenty-four volumes, 11 1/2 x 11 13/4 x 3 inches (29.2 x 29.8 x 7.6 cm) each

(Collection of the artist)

On Kawara Telegram to Sol LeWitt, February 5, 1970 From I Am Still Alive, 1970–2000 Telegram, 5 3/4 x 8 inches (14.6 x 20.3 cm)

(LeWitt Collection, Chester, Connecticut)