On Kawara - 1964 Paris - New York. Drawings - 1997

The Japanese artist On Kawara (1932-2014) was one of the most important representatives of conceptual art. He is best known for his 'Date Paintings,' small panels with the specific date of the day they were created.

The 196 drawings, reproduced in this volume for the first time in their entirety and created in 1964 in Paris and New York, are nothing less than the key to understanding a crucial turning point in On Kawara's work. They mark the end of his extensive travels after leaving Japan in 1959 and before he settled permanently in New York in 1965. Moreover, they connect his surrealist early works created in Japan between 1952 and 1956 with the well-known 'Date Paintings,' which are received as conceptually and minimalist.

In 1964, On Kawara began a series of drawings in Paris, which he continued after returning to New York in the fall of the same year. The series '1964 Paris – New York' abandons figurative representation of his works from the 1950s in favor of a combination of obscure diagrams and symbols, sketches of imaginary sculptural environments and installations, as well as short, cryptic written messages. Many of these techniques share similarities with minimalist painting and conceptual art.