On Kawara — I Read — Mfc – Michèle Didier Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: November 23, 2017 → February 10, 2018

Unlike the three parts of the Trilogy, I Got Up, I Went and I Met, published respectively in 2008, 2007 and 2004, I Read by On Kawara is not a daily work but is connected to the Today Series, artwork gathering all the Date Paintings realized from 1966 to the eve of the death of the artist, in 2014.
If I Read also begins in 1966 and stops in 1995, by publishing I Read post- mortem, Mfc-Michèle Didier respects the last will of the artist to pursue the work until his death.

I Read contains 3 272 pages. On Kawara has carefully annotated and dated the newspaper clippings which are stucked on the 3 272 sheets of lined paper. On a page are juxtaposed or overlayed several clippings from numerous daily newspapers. Only the date is common to the different selected newspaper articles. Sometimes, the newspapers are dated a day or two days later, but it’s the date mentioned on the page header which is precisely the date of the Date Painting.

I Read is thus directly linked to the Today Series and each page is corresponding to a Date Painting. The artist’s interest in world news as well as the rhythm of the work of painting by On Kawara are revealed in I Read.

At the occasion of the exhibition, all the publications by On Kawara published by Mfc-Michèle Didier: the Trilogy consisting of I Got Up, I Went and I Met and the One Million Years will be presented too at the gallery.